HD Heads-Up: February 1-7
January 23, 2025 
11 Comments
➢➢ The official Waitangi Day broadcast screens live from 5am Thursday on TVNZ 1, Three, Sky Open and Whakaata Māori — but only Sky Open and Whakaata Māori have original programming. Sky Open follows its coverage with a three-hour binge of new sketch series, Only in Aotearoa (10am), which pokes fun at NZ from a Māori perspective, and a repeat of the season one premiere of Waharoa: Art of the Pacific (1.00). Whakaata Māori’s schedule includes the movies The Convert (6.40) and Patu (9.00) as well as Canvassing the Treaty (12.50), in which NZ artists are challenged to create a work representative of the Treaty of Waitangi in only three days, and Hīkoi – Speaking Our Truth (5.15), which retraces and unpicks the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed March …
➢➢ Nightsleeper (Three, 10.00 Friday) is a real-time thriller set on a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London while a government agency desperately tries to intervene in the rapidly-escalating events onboard. The Guardian dubbed it “fantastically dreadful” and Radio Times a “ham-fisted thriller like Red Eye, but dafter”. Other critics also thought it scarcely first-class. Three’s also picking up for its free-to-air debut the Showtime version of Shameless (10.50 Thursday) …
➢➢ New to TVNZ 1 are:
- Queer Aotearoa: We’ve Always Been Here (10.25 Saturday), a six-part series in which comedian Eli Matthewson reveals “the untold history of New Zealand’s queer community”
- Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The Impact (9.45 Sunday), which interviews casualties of the sub-postmasters scandal who featured in Mr Bates vs The Post Office as well as new victims
- Bad Host: Hunting The Couch Surfing Predator (11.35 Monday), in which three young women travelling separately in Italy stay with a stranger who’s not the perfect host
- A Brief History of the Future (12.35am Tuesday), an optimistic six-part PBS series that explores possible solutions to humanity’s problems, from floating cities to lab-grown foods …
➢➢ Also new are ABBA: Against the Odds (Sky Open, 8.00 Sunday), Lomu: The Lost Tapes (Three, 9.25 Sunday) and Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year’s Special (TVNZ 1, 9.00 Thursday) …
➢➢ Returning for new seasons are:
- Married at First Sight Australia S12 (Three, 7.00 Monday)
- The Crowd Goes Wild (Sky Open, 7.00 Monday)
- 9-1-1 (Three, 8.55 Monday)
- The Equalizer S4 (Sky Open, 11.00 Monday)
- Live at the Apollo S18 (TVNZ 2, 10.25 Wednesday) …
➢➢ Ending their runs are:
- The Block
- Mammals
- Bondi Vet
- Kin
- Masterchef: Dessert Masters
- Border Security
- There She Goes …
➢➢ Live/delayed free-to-air sport includes:
- Super Smash Women’s Cricket: Elimination Final (Duke, 12.30 Saturday)
- Super Smash Men’s Cricket: Elimination Final (Duke, 4.15 Saturday)
- A-League Men: Auckland FC v Macarthur FC (Sky Open, 4.30 Saturday)
- Hungry Jack’s NBL25 Season: BNZ Breakers v Cairns Taipans (Duke, 7.45 Saturday)
- Premier League: Goal Rush (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
- Super Smash Women’s Cricket: Final (Sky Open, 12.30 Sunday)
- Women’s Ashes: Australia v England – Test Day 3 (Sky Open, 1.30 Sunday)
- Super Smash Men’s Cricket: Final (Duke, 4.15 Sunday)
- Hungry Jack’s NBL25 Season: BNZ Breakers v Illawarra Hawks (Duke, 7.45 Wednesday) …
➢➢ HD coming attractions include:
- Are We There Yet? (TVNZ 2, 12.30 Saturday)
- The Railway Children Return (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
- Smurfs: The Lost Village (Three, 7.35 Saturday)
- 28 Days (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Saturday)
- The World’s Fastest Indian (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Saturday)
- Dirty Grandpa (Three, 9.30 Saturday)
- To Die For (TVNZ 2, 1.25am Sunday)
- Abominable (TVNZ 2, 2.45 Sunday)
- Shazam! (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
- The Current War (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
- Balloon (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Sunday)
- Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (TVNZ 2, 8.10 Monday)
- Mad Max (Sky Open, 8.30 Monday)
- Reflection: A Walk with Water (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
- Jackass 3.5 (Duke, 9.45 Monday)
- F9: The Fast Saga (TVNZ 2, 8.20 Tuesday)
- Nightcrawler (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
- Panic Room (Duke, 10.40 Tuesday)
- Hitch (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Wednesday)
- Daffodils (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
- Jason Bourne (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Thursday)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Friday)
- Fly Away Home (Sky Open, 7.00 Friday).
Hi Philip, is it true that MTV is shutting down on Sky TV from February 1st? If so, where will all the MTV content appear? Is it bound for TVNZ+? — Leo.
Yes, Leo, MTV fades to black on Sky at midnight on January 31. I haven’t followed its demise because it’s not an HD channel. But last year The Guardian reported the likes of TikTok have usurped linear music channels, sometimes for the better. “But the chance of colliding serendipitously with a fully realised cinematic music video, especially as algorithms increasingly inform and narrow down our tastes, feels smaller than ever.” Some MTV content may wind up on TVNZ+, because it’s a Paramount Global operation. Whatever the reasons behind the closure, it was an abrupt decision because Sky distributed MTV’s February listings in December!
MTV Canada has already gone dark – as at 31 Dec. Huge changes to MTV programming in the US (BBT, Friends etc to show on MTV). It’s a dying brand under the Paramount cost cutting drive. — Mike.
Actually MTV is indeed an HD channel. How do people find out channels or content get removed from Sky? — Fsmith.
Good grief, so it is. Seems to be its only recommendation. Normally Sky announces if a channel is being removed but I don’t recall a media release about MTV.
Cheers Philip for the confirmation. Another channel bites the dust. Hopefully its back catalogue of shows winds up somewhere. TVNZ+ recently had a survey with MTV as part of it’s premium service but it’s not concrete. Sad to see it go and not only here but globally, a sign of the times to be honest. — Leo.
I don’t like losing viewing options but given MTV had descended into never-ending reality TV blocks some years ago, I won’t be too devastated. — Clint.
Interesting Philip that the two MTV Music channels 022 and 123 MTV ’80s are still on Sky’s February listings. — Bruce.
Hey, Bruce. Yes, the music channels will continue. Sky says MTV is ending due to changing audience preferences. “Sky still offers a range of other channels from Paramount, including music channels MTV Hits and MTV 80s as well as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr. More broadly speaking, in the reality space, there is a great line-up of shows on other channels such as TLC, which includes hit series 90-Day Fiancé, Love in Paradise, and Say Yes to the Dress.”
Hi Phil, any word on who is broadcasting Nascar and Xfinity Cup for 2025? With NZ’s Shane Van Gisbergen in the Nascar main game this year there is bound to be heightened interest. — Gerard.
Hi Gerard. ThreeNow kicks off its streaming coverage on February 3 with Nascar Cup: Bowman Gray. But WBD isn’t broadcasting it on Three.