Wellington, March 5 NZPA - State-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand is launching a channel playing New Zealand programmes on pay television operator SKY Television's platform in June.

The new channel, called TVNZ Heartland, will be available to all subscribers to the SKY's basic package.

"We're delighted to be entering the pay TV market in partnership with SKY TV, as a complement to our free-to-air business," said Rick Ellis, TVNZ's chief executive.

Heartland would broadcast classic and more recent shows.

"SKY's enthusiasm for the idea has given us an opportunity to build a commercially viable channel that will bring first class New Zealand content to a big audience. Without the SKY pay platform, this project would not have gone ahead."

John Fellet, chief executive of SKY Television, said the content provided by TVNZ was "the biggest untapped resource since the Maui oil fields".

The Heartland programme schedule will be released in May. The channel is being compared to Sky's UKTV channel, which broadcasts United Kingdom produced programmes.