TVNZ 1 News anchors Simon Dallow and Miriamo Kamo explained a technical problem was to blame for the brief outage.
A technical problem caused TVNZ's 1 News to unexpectedly cut away from their 6pm bulletin.
Tonight's 1 News was part way through its first package on the Thai cave rescue when the piece unexpectedly dropped off air.
Lifestyle show Kiwi Living came on air in its place for about five minutes.
When 1 News returned eight minutes later anchors Simon Dallow and Miriamo Kamo explained a technical problem was to blame for the brief outage.
"We have had a few technical problems, but we're ready to go right now," Dallow said.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said, "We experienced an automation failure in our news studio this evening as our 6pm bulletin was set to go to air.
"This required our system to be reset and delayed our evening news coverage. 1 News at Six subsequently went to air at 6.08pm and we apologise to viewers for the delay."
She said it is currently investigating the root cause of this automation failure.
The outage drew lots of attention from viewers.
Residents have been warned to expect a police presence as the scene is examined.