Eden (stylized as eden and formerly known as Choice TV) is a privately owned, national

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television channel in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and has been on air since 2012. The channel features programs on topics such as: lifestyle, news, travel, reality, movies, entertainment, comedy, game shows and drama. The channel and its sister network

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

New Zealand were acquired by Discovery, Inc. (now

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Outline of entertainment, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It was formed from WarnerMedi ...

) in 2019. On 21 March 2022, Choice TV was rebranded as Eden. Also, on 21 March 2022 Eden+1 was launched.

History

Choice TV was launched on 28 April 2012, at 5 p.m. It was created and co-founded by Alex Breingan, Julia Baylis, Laurie Clarke and Vincent Burke. It is broadcast nationally on the Freeview digital TV network Channel 12 and on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

Channel 13.

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

also carries the channel for their IPTV subscribers. According to the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, the channel's four-week cumulative audience is about 1.8 million people since January 2014 - New Zealand's population being 4.8 million. The January 2013 season began with exclusive content including

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

's ''Jonathan Ross Show'' and

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

's made-for-TV movie series ''Jesse Stone,'' starring

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations fo ...

. During March 2013,

aired the short-lived ABC sitcom '' Mr. Sunshine'' and the daytime drama ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'', which had been discontinued by

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

two years earlier when its contract with Sony Pictures expired. ''Days of Our Lives'' picks up from the 2011 season (season 47), seasons behind the then-current United States'

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

season. TVNZ had previously been more than five years behind the United States's programming. From April to August 2013, reruns of the

1996 drama '' Early Edition'' aired weekdays and was then replaced by the ITV Granada show '' Wild at Heart''. The show ''

Being Erica ''Being Erica'' is a Canadian comedy-drama television series that aired on CBC Television, CBC from January 5, 2009, to December 12, 2011. Created by Jana Sinyor, the series was originally announced by the CBC as ''The Session'', but was later r ...

,'' distributed by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

and produced by

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, began airing on Saturday, 10 August 2013. From September 2013, Choice TV started playing the second season of the Australian TV comedy '' Twenty Something''. ''Days of Our Lives'' went on a summer hiatus until 10 February 2014, just before the end of season 47. The last few episodes aired on Friday, 20 December 2013 and Sunday, 22 December 2013. On 25 April 2014, Choice TV announced that they would suspend their decision to order more seasons of ''Days of Our Lives''. ''Being Erica''s second season premiered on 23 January 2014 in the daytime weekday slot while ''Days of Our Lives'' was off-air. '' Vexed''s second season premiered in late March 2014 for New Zealand viewers. Choice TV also began playing '' Better Man'' in late May 2014. In November 2014, Canada's

Blue Ant Media Blue Ant Media Inc. is a Canadian broadcasting and media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company was founded by Michael MacMillan and formed in 2011 following the acquisition of Glassbox Television. Its name was chosen in reference ...

bought a majority stake in Choice TV, marking the group's first international expansion. In late 2019, the channel was acquired by Discovery, Inc., along with sister network

New Zealand. Choice TV On Demand closed in May 2021, and Choice TV programming was moved to ThreeNow. On 10 November 2021, it was announced that Choice TV would be rebranded as Gusto in March 2022. However, shortly before launch the name Gusto was scrapped and changed to "eden" in order to avoid confusion with the former TVNZ OnDemand food channel of the same name. The rebranded channel would retain most of Choice's programming, with the major additions of ''Newshub Live at 8pm'', an extension of Discovery New Zealand's news brand

Newshub ''Newshub'' (stylised as Newshub.) was a New Zealand news service that operated from 1989 to 2024 and served as the local news division of Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand until its closure. The division, known as ''3 News'' until 2016, had ...

, and more drama programming. The channel would host British dramas, game shows, and "intelligent" movies including '' Changing Rooms'', ''Big Family Farm'', '' Finding Alice'', and a new local show called ''Great Southern Truckers''.

Content

The Choice TV line-up included programs from the UK's

, Verve Productions, Zodiak Media, the Australian SBS, ABC, Fremantle Australia, as well as productions from

. Together with Top Shelf Productions, Choice TV developed a local series which aired in the spring of 2014 on the channel's Thursday Food Night. From 17 October 2014, Choice TV aired their own New Zealand gardening show, ''Get Growing'', as well as a programme called ''Cook the Books'', which first aired on 30 October 2014.

Programming

Originally Choice TV's prime time programming slot (7:30–10:30pm) featured a different daily theme: *Monday – Travel: Our World *Tuesday – Property & Design *Wednesday – Great Outdoors *Thursday – Food *Friday – Home & Garden *Weekend – Entertainment Additionally, Choice TV has produced several television shows, including: * '' Brunch'' (2012) * '' Cook the Books'' (2014) ** ''Cook the Books'' (Season 2) (2015) * ''Full Frontage'' (2015) * '' Get Growing'' (2014) * ''The Get Growing Roadshow'' (2015) * ''My Dream Room: Kids Edition'' (2015) * ''Uncharted New Zealand'' (2021)

Brunch

In September 2012, Choice TV aired its own TV morning show called '' Brunch'' with

April Ieremia April Ieremia (born 31 October 1967) is a New Zealand former netball player and television host. Netball career April Ieremia was a New Zealand attacking player from Christchurch who represented Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury from 1983� ...

and former All Black rugby player

Josh Kronfeld Joshua Adrian Kronfeld (born 20 June 1971) is a TV presenter and a former rugby union footballer who represented All Blacks, New Zealand at international level and Otago Rugby Football Union, Otago, Otago Highlanders, the Highlanders and Leicest ...

hosting. The first season finished on 21 December 2012 with a total of 65 episodes but was not renewed.

Eden+1

Eden+1 (stylized as eden+1) is a 1-hour timeshift channel. It was launched on 21 March 2022, replacing The Edge TV. eden+1 is available on Freeview Channel 18 and Sky Channel 505.

References

External links

*
Choice TV on Facebook

Choice TV on Twitter
{{Blue Ant Media Blue Ant Media channels Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific Warner Bros. Discovery networks Television channels in New Zealand Television channels and stations established in 2012 English-language television stations in New Zealand Television channels and stations established in 2022