TVNZ's new Freeview digital channels have moved a step closer to launch, being given names.
TVNZ 6 will launch at the end of September, and will be shared by three independent services.
The channel's morning and daytime service will show pre-school children's programming.
From late afternoon, a second service will provide programming that the whole family can watch together. Then, at 8.30 a third service will show more challenging programming centred on the arts and drama.
TVNZ general manager of digital service Eric Kearley says new programmes are being commissioned and TVNZ has acquired rights for existing programming for TVNZ 6.
The other channel, launching in March next year, has been named TVNZ 7.
The channel will have news bulletins on the hour, every hour, but it is a broad based factual channel, Kearley says, and is not a Sky News style rolling news channel. It will show news, sports, documentaries and current affairs programming.
Both channels are advertising free.
Kearley says TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 were chosen as the channel names because they are numeric and allow a broader content structure than any descriptive title, and they also match the Electronic Programming Guide position on Freeview, so should be easier for the viewer to remember and find.