U Live

*U Live*
U Live
Presented by	Rose Matafeo, Connor Nestor, Tim Lambourne, and Matt Gibb
Country of origin	New Zealand
Original language	English
Production
Production locations	Auckland, New Zealand
Running time	180 minutes
Original release
Network	TVNZ U
Release	March 13, 2011 –; August 31, 2013

U Live is the flagship show of TVNZ U, airing live from 4pm - 7pm daily. The show featured music, interviews, and other general interest content. Viewers were invited to participate via Facebook to vote in psychic readings, take part in discussions, and view the show via a live commercial- and graphic-free stream, where comments and psychic readings would then be played live. U Live was hosted by Connor Nestor, Matthew Gibb, Kirsteen Mackenzie, Eli Matthewson and Monika Barton. U Live drew many parallels to TVNZ's rival network Mediaworks' youth-oriented show FOUR Live, which aired on FOUR.

History

U Live came when TVNZ was studying the feasibility of a youth-oriented channel, at a time when C4's Select Live was ending. During early pitching sessions to TVNZ, a contact at Facebook suggested the inclusion of an interactive app, touted as a world first. The goal of the app was to make the programme more engaging to its viewers^[1]

Rehearsals took place in the month leading up to its premiere. The first edition aired on 13 March 2011. Segments dictated by the viewers included The Sunday #roastreport, Snack Time (where viewers sent in photos of what they were eating) and K-Pop at 6 O'Clock (created after recommendations from a user of the U Live Facebook app who demanded Korean music videos).^[1]

The final edition of U Live on 31 August 2013 was also the final programme seen on the channel. The programme (and the channel) ended with the music video to Two Times by Ann Lee, before cutting at 7pm to a slide promoting the timeshift feed of TV2.^[1]

Presenters

Final Presenters

Connor Nestor (March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) - August 31, 2013 (2013-08-31))
Matthew Gibb (March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) - August 31, 2013 (2013-08-31))
Kirsteen Mackenzie (March 20, 2013 (2013-03-20) - August 31, 2013 (2013-08-31))
Eli Matthewson (March 20, 2013 (2013-03-20) - August 31, 2013 (2013-08-31))
Monika Barton (July 31, 2013 (2013-07-31) - August 31, 2013 (2013-08-31))

Previous Presenters

Tim Lambourne (March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) - March 31, 2013 (2013-03-31))
Guy Montgomery (Fill In Host, 2011)
Tom Furniss (Fill In Host, 2012)
Rose Matafeo (March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) - August 2, 2013 (2013-08-02))

U Live Facebook App

TVNZ teamed up with Facebook to create an application that would allow for user-generated content to be provided and presented on the show, in the form of polls, discussions and music video requests.

External links

TVNZ U website Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
TVNZ U launch announcement regarding Facebook application
TVNZ U Facebook Page
TVNZ U Facebook Application

References

1 2 3 Casey, Alex. "Kids in the hallway: the complete history of TVNZ U". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.

[kidsinthehallway-1] 1 2 3 Casey, Alex. "Kids in the hallway: the complete history of TVNZ U". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.

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