Channel 2 (TVNZ) - Breakfast TV (1989)
Channel: Patrick Te Pou
Date: 27/03/2024

On the morning of Monday 6 November 1989, the launch of Breakfast News by TVNZ coincided with Channel 2's (now TVNZ 2) extension of broadcast hours.

The channel opened its weekday transmission at the earlier time of 6.30am, preceded by a 15 minute sequence of in-vision pages from TVNZ's now-defunct Teletext service. Weekend programming initially commenced at 7am but moved to a 6.30am start in February 1990.

The late Paul Norris, TVNZ's head of news and current affairs at the time, explained that Breakfast News was part of the network's overall strategy to provide a 24 hour news service and extend its broadcast hours to better serve all New Zealanders.

With its half hour slot at 7am on Channel 2, Breakfast News prided itself on its comprehensive coverage of international news as delivered by satellite. As much of the most significant events happened while New Zealanders were sleeping due to time zone differences, Norris emphasised that the morning bulletin would bring viewers up to speed with what was happening on the other side of the world.

Aside from international news coverage, the bulletin included a summary of the morning's business news and weather forecasts at approximately 7.07am and 7.27am. There was also a shorter news and weather update at 8am.

Breakfast News was anchored by Tom Bradley with Penelope Barr presenting the weather. The programme underwent a brief name change to Good Morning New Zealand within a week of its launch, but this was short-lived. Initially ordered to change the name following a complaint from RNZ, TVNZ was able to resume using Breakfast News on 6 December 1989 due to a court order regarding copyright.

In January 1990 the format shifted to four shorter news and weather updates at 7am, 7.30am, 8am, and 8.30am (during Channel 2's early morning programming for children). Former Top Half presenter John Hawkesby replaced Tom Bradley as anchor. However, by August that year, Hawkesby moved on to co-anchor the late night edition of One Network News (now @1NewsNZ) and Breakfast News was axed by TVNZ.

Breakfast News was initially a test, experimental service from TVNZ. It wasn't until August 1997 that Breakfast was officially launched on TV One (now TVNZ 1).

Special thanks to YouTube channel DigitaliseMe for the use of this clip.

Subtitles available.