New Zealand's oldest TV set found

A television set from the town of Hokitika on New Zealand's South Island has been unearthed as New Zealand's oldest working TV set.

The 53-year-old telly beat almost 300 entries to win the Going Digital Oldest Telly competition on TVNZ's ‘Breakfast' programme on TV ONE, launched to prove New Zealanders don't need a new TV to go digital.

Owner Elva Reynolds of Hokitika, in the West Coast region of South Island, told the programme that the set was assembled by her husband in 1958 and that he would have been honoured by the win.

"I'm delighted for Winston's sake, electronics was his life.

"I recall my husband assembling the TV as it was one of the first on the West Coast. I'm sure Winston would have been delighted the set has been named New Zealand's oldest television," the 92-year-old said. 

Assembled with parts from Australia, the TV even received a signal from across the Tasman before television transmission finally arrived in the region in 1972.

The set was eventually donated to Hokitika Museum in the 1970s.

Greg Harford, national manager for Going Digital, a government body, said the competition was all about reminding viewers that any TV could go digital ahead of the switchover between next year and 2013.

(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)