New Zealand (3.8 million)

In the 80s, New Zealand TV was heavily commercialised due to problems associated with the island's small number of inhabitants, since the licence fee (PBF) could not feasibly be further increased.

TVNZ's TV1 and TV2 became a 'state-owned enterprise' in 1989, as red tape was slashed, jobs were lost and both prevailing bureaucracy and production budgets were drastically streamlined. Roughly 25% of hourly viewing-time was dedicated to advertising, and sponsorship increased on a mammoth scale. Local productions were cheap and tacky, and unashamedly populist in nature. News coverage suffered visibly.

Foreign-owned channels include CanWest's TV3 and TV4, Prime (which is Australian) and SKY, which is Murdoch-related and offers 20 pay-TV alternatives, which have been remarkably successful. Sports coverage is certainly a key factor here. Licence fees were scrapped in 1999, but in the public sector TVNZ struggles still.