SKY Network Television
Encyclopedia
Sky Network Television Limited , (often stylised SKY), is a New Zealand
pay television
service. On 30 June 2011, Sky had 829,421 subscribers, which comprises:
All up, Sky was in 50.5% of New Zealand homes, making it the largest television platform in New Zealand.
, Trevor Farmer and Alan Gibbs
in 1987 as Sky Media Limited.
Sky Media Limited originally formed to investigate the possibility of beaming sports programming into club
s and pubs using high performance 4 metre satellite dishes by Jarvis and an engineering
associate Brian Green but was redirected into pay television following successful bidding in 1990 for four groups of UHF frequencies in the Auckland
, Hamilton
and Tauranga
region
s.
The first Sky subscriber was former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Jonathan Hunt
, according to Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Sky rapidly won long term rights from US sports network ESPN
(which became a 1% shareholder) as well as CNN
and HBO providing it with a supply of sports, news and movies for three channels: Sky Sport, Sky News (a mix of CNN International
and BBC
bulletins) and Sky Movies (later renamed HBO, before reverting to its original name.)
Initially only operating in the Auckland region Sky contracted Broadcast Communications to provide the broadcast service and transmission from its Panorama Road studios formerly owned by defunct broadcaster
Northern Television
.
Later, as funding allowed Sky extended its coverage throughout most of New Zealand, in 1994, Sky launched two further channels, Discovery and Orange. The company expanded to Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Southland
and Otago
, follow by the Wairarapa
, Taupo
and Wanganui
regions in 1995. Its final UHF expansion, in 1996, was to Taranaki, Whangarei
and eastern Bay of Plenty
.
In April 1997, Sky introduced a nationwide analogue direct broadcasting via satellite (DBS) service over the Optus B1 satellite. The DBS services gave Sky the opportunity to offer its customers more channels and interactive options. It upgraded it to a digital service in December 1998.
The concept of a pay television service was new to New Zealand and Sky had early problems. These included viewer
acceptance of subscriber television. It faced difficulty in educating retailers and customer
s on the use of the original decoder
s. However, this problem was eased with the introduction of easier-to-use decoders that allowed greater viewer flexibility.
Channels that are no longer carried by Sky TV include Granada UKTV
, Hallmark Channel
, TVSN
, HBO (renamed Sky Movies) and Property TV. A SkyMail email
service was also featured for a time, but was later pulled due to lack of interest, (including the wireless keyboards they had produced for it).
for NZ$
30 million. Sky uses Prime to promote its pay content and to show delayed sports coverage. New Zealand's Commerce Commission
issued clearance for the purchase on 8 February 2006.
(8 a.m. London, 3 a.m. New York) on 30 March 2006. The interruption affected service to over 550,000 customers and caused many decoders to advise customers of "rain fade
." Due to excessive volume of calls to the Sky toll-free helpdesk Sky posted update messages on their website advising customers that they were working with Optus to restore service by midnight. SKY credited customers with one day's subscription fees as compensation for the downtime at a cost to the company of NZ$ 1.5 million. Sky switched its DBS service to the Optus D1 satellite on 15 November 2006. It later expanded its transponder capacity on this satellite to allow for extra channels and HD broadcasts.
They plan to hand their UHF and radio spectrum back to the Government and trade them for digital terrestrial bandwidth.
Interactive Services:
In December 2005, Sky released its own Digital Video Recorder
(DVR), which essentially is an upgraded set top box similar to Foxtel IQ in Australia
or TiVo
in the U.S.
. Called My Sky, it offers viewers the ability to pause live television, rewind television, record up to two channels at once straight to the set top box and watch the start of a recorded programme while still recording the end. It also gives viewers access to a revamped Guide and the new Planner, used to plan and access recordings at the touch of a button. However the PVR box remains the property of SKY Television.
One of the advertised features of My Sky is the ability of the system to record series of programs using the "Series Link" feature. But this has proven to be somewhat unreliable in that on occasions, intended future recordings are not made. This has occurred since the inception of the service. Sky TV say they are working to determine the cause of the random failures, and to rectify it. Soft rebooting the decoder appears to temporarily overcome the problem.
There was software in My Sky that after an hour of no signal from Sky then the decoder locks playback of pre-recorded programmes. This was discovered after the Optus B1 satellite was unable to broadcast Sky to over 600,000 subscribers.
This generation of box was replaced by My Sky HDi when it launched on 1 July 2008.
On 1 July 2008, a service called My Sky HDi was launched, and is the successor to the My Sky service released in 2006. The HD channels available are Sky Movies
, Sky Movies Greats
, Sky Sport 1
, Sky Sport 2
, as well as free-to-air channels TV ONE, TV2, and TV3
.
The boxes allow connection of to up to four satellites which can work with its four TV tuner cards in any combination. Two channels can be recorded at once, while another can be watched live and the fourth is for a non-real time pay per view service.
The device has a 320GB HDD however only 160GB is available for recording, the remaining is reserved for on-demand downloads.
The quality of My Sky HDi is 576i via component and 720/1080i via HDMI.
A new feature was released exclusive to MY SKY HDi on 6 July 2010 called Record Me. This feature allows subscribers to press the green button on programme advertisements to record that advertised programme.
As of 31 December 2010, there are 231,072 My Sky HDi subscribers.
On 1 July 2011, a new service called My Sky + was launched, and is the successor to the My Sky HDi service released in 2008.
It has a 1T hard drive which makes it capable of recording 4 times the amount of content than its predecessor.
The box is 3D
ready in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
which will be screened on Sky Sport in 3D.
Sky announced late 2006 that it will be using the 30% reserved disk space in the PVR to offer a video on demand
service to its My Sky customers. This service commenced in 2007 offering 12 - 15 titles at any one time. New titles are downloaded automatically from the Optus D1 satellite to the PVR and listed only when they are available for purchase and instant playback.
In May 2009 Sky introduced copy protection on My Sky and My Sky HDi decoders limiting the ability to copy material from My Sky/My Sky HDi to DVD/HDD recorders and to PCs. TV One, Two and Three, Sky Movies, Sky Movies 2, Sky Movies Greats, MGM & TCM have a copy-once encoding meaning movies can be copied however any further copying is prevented. Sky Box Office channels, including Adult channels are copy protected so DVD/HDD recorders & PCs will not record from these channels. Other channels are not copy protected. Copy protection technology is not built into other decoders.
In August 2009 a new online service was launched where customers can log on and set their My Sky or My Sky HDi's to record programmes.
The instruction to record a programme is sent to the set-top boxes via satellite.
's 3G customers.
The channels include:
which works on iOS devices such as iPhone
, iPad
and iPod Touch
es. The app contains an electronic program guide, remote record capabilities (for MySky HDi), Facebook & Twitter social functions and automatic programme reminders. The app has been a success, with over 50,000 downloads from the iTunes App Store in just four weeks.
The magazine provides monthly listings for Sky channels, as well as highlights and features.
service - Fatso
.
service, which launched in 2011. The service streams programmes from SKY's channels based on users' existing SKY subscriptions. There are also live streaming sports and news channels.
Currently iSKY offers programming from the following SKY channels:
Future plans for the service also include movie download rentals and opening iSKY up to non-SKY subscribers.
Sky switched from the elderly Optus B1 to the Optus D1 satellite for its DBS service on 15 November 2006. Initially, Sky used vertically polarised transponders on Optus D1 (as it had on Optus B1). However, on 31 July 2007 it moved its programming to horizontally polarised transponders with New Zealand-specific beams to be consistent with Freeview and to gain access to more transmission capacity. Sky have also purchased some of the capacity of Optus D3
, which was launched mid August 2009, this gives Sky the ability to add more channels and upgrade existing channels to HD in the future.
A set-top box
(STB) is used to decrypt the satellite signals. Digital broadcasts are in DVB-compliant MPEG-2 (MPEG-4 AVC for HD broadcasts). Interactive services and the EPG
use the proprietary OpenTV system.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
pay television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
service. On 30 June 2011, Sky had 829,421 subscribers, which comprises:
- 808,617 digital subscribers
- 20,840 other subscribers
All up, Sky was in 50.5% of New Zealand homes, making it the largest television platform in New Zealand.
History
Founded by Terry Jarvis, Craig HeatleyCraig Heatley
Craig Heatley is a New Zealand businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist; and one of New Zealand's wealthiest men according to National Business Review magazine.-Career:...
, Trevor Farmer and Alan Gibbs
Alan Gibbs
Alan Gibbs is a New Zealand businessman, entrepreneur, and art patron; and one of New Zealand's wealthiest residents. National Business Review magazine estimates his wealth at $450 million.-Career:...
in 1987 as Sky Media Limited.
Sky Media Limited originally formed to investigate the possibility of beaming sports programming into club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
s and pubs using high performance 4 metre satellite dishes by Jarvis and an engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
associate Brian Green but was redirected into pay television following successful bidding in 1990 for four groups of UHF frequencies in the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
and Tauranga
Tauranga
Tauranga is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand.It was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century and was constituted as a city in 1963...
region
Region
Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
s.
The first Sky subscriber was former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
In New Zealand the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the individual who chairs the country's legislative body, the New Zealand House of Representatives...
Jonathan Hunt
Jonathan Hunt (New Zealand)
Jonathan Lucas Hunt, ONZ is a New Zealand politician, and was New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2005 to March 2008. He formerly served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was until recently the longest-serving MP...
, according to Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Sky rapidly won long term rights from US sports network ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
(which became a 1% shareholder) as well as CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and HBO providing it with a supply of sports, news and movies for three channels: Sky Sport, Sky News (a mix of CNN International
CNN International
CNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...
and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
bulletins) and Sky Movies (later renamed HBO, before reverting to its original name.)
Initially only operating in the Auckland region Sky contracted Broadcast Communications to provide the broadcast service and transmission from its Panorama Road studios formerly owned by defunct broadcaster
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
Northern Television
Northern Television
Northern Television was the name of a subnetwork in northern British Columbia, composed of two private CBC Television stations, CFTK-TV, and CJDC-TV.-History:...
.
Later, as funding allowed Sky extended its coverage throughout most of New Zealand, in 1994, Sky launched two further channels, Discovery and Orange. The company expanded to Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Southland
Southland Region
Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region and is also a district within that region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura...
and Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
, follow by the Wairarapa
Wairarapa
Wairarapa is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest...
, Taupo
Taupo
Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the seat of the Taupo District Council and lies in the southern Waikato Region....
and Wanganui
Wanganui
Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
regions in 1995. Its final UHF expansion, in 1996, was to Taranaki, Whangarei
Whangarei
Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
and eastern Bay of Plenty
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
.
In April 1997, Sky introduced a nationwide analogue direct broadcasting via satellite (DBS) service over the Optus B1 satellite. The DBS services gave Sky the opportunity to offer its customers more channels and interactive options. It upgraded it to a digital service in December 1998.
The concept of a pay television service was new to New Zealand and Sky had early problems. These included viewer
Viewer
Things known as a viewer include:* For television viewer, see Audience; Audience measurement; Nielsen ratings* File viewer, a piece of computer software that displays the data stored in a computer file in a human-friendly form...
acceptance of subscriber television. It faced difficulty in educating retailers and customer
Customer
A customer is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services...
s on the use of the original decoder
Decoder
A decoder is a device which does the reverse operation of an encoder, undoing the encoding so that the original information can be retrieved. The same method used to encode is usually just reversed in order to decode...
s. However, this problem was eased with the introduction of easier-to-use decoders that allowed greater viewer flexibility.
Channels that are no longer carried by Sky TV include Granada UKTV
Granada UKTV
For the ITV regional television channel in the northwest of England see Granada Television.ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada TV, is a satellite and cable television channel owned and operated by ITV plc. It is currently available in the Middle East, Cyprus, Malta, and across Asia, including...
, Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
, TVSN
TVSN
Television Shopping Network is an Australian home shopping channel. It is owned by Innovations Direct Pty Ltd, a home shopping company based in Sydney, which also owns sister channel Expo.-History:...
, HBO (renamed Sky Movies) and Property TV. A SkyMail email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
service was also featured for a time, but was later pulled due to lack of interest, (including the wireless keyboards they had produced for it).
Purchase of Prime Television
In November 2005, Sky announced it had purchased the free-to-air channel Prime TelevisionPrime Television New Zealand
Prime is the seventh national free-to-air television station in New Zealand. The station airs a mixed group of programmes, largely imported from Australia, the UK and the United States, as well as free-to-air rugby union, cricket and rugby league matches....
for NZ$
New Zealand dollar
The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....
30 million. Sky uses Prime to promote its pay content and to show delayed sports coverage. New Zealand's Commerce Commission
Commerce Commission
The Commerce Commission is a New Zealand government agency charged with enforcing legislation that promotes competition in the country's markets and prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct by traders...
issued clearance for the purchase on 8 February 2006.
Satellite Upgrade
The unreliability of the ageing Optus B1 satellite was highlighted when the direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) service went offline just before 7p.m. NZSTTime in New Zealand
New Zealand has two time zones. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time , 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time , while the outlying Chatham Islands use Chatham Standard Time , 12 hours 45 minutes in advance of UTC.During summer daylight saving time is observed and clocks are...
(8 a.m. London, 3 a.m. New York) on 30 March 2006. The interruption affected service to over 550,000 customers and caused many decoders to advise customers of "rain fade
Rain fade
Rain fade refers primarily to the absorption of a microwave radio frequency signal by atmospheric rain, snow or ice, and losses are especially prevalent at frequencies above 11 GHz. It also refers to the degradation of a signal caused by the electromagnetic interference of the leading edge of a...
." Due to excessive volume of calls to the Sky toll-free helpdesk Sky posted update messages on their website advising customers that they were working with Optus to restore service by midnight. SKY credited customers with one day's subscription fees as compensation for the downtime at a cost to the company of NZ$ 1.5 million. Sky switched its DBS service to the Optus D1 satellite on 15 November 2006. It later expanded its transponder capacity on this satellite to allow for extra channels and HD broadcasts.
UHF shutdown
Sky has recently switched off their UHF service. All of its analogue UHF pay TV networks shut down on 11 March 2010 at midnight.They plan to hand their UHF and radio spectrum back to the Government and trade them for digital terrestrial bandwidth.
Channels Available
| Channel Name | Subscription package | Widescreen | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 000 | Preview | Basic | ||
| 001 | TV ONE | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 002 | TV2 | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 003 | TV3 TV3 (New Zealand) TV3 is a New Zealand commercial television network, owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. Launched on 26 November 1989, the first private television network in New Zealand... |
Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 004 | Prime | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 005 | The BOX | Basic | ||
| 006 | UKTV | Basic | ||
| 007 | Vibe Vibe (TV channel) Vibe is an entertainment channel on New Zealand's SKY Television. It is not part of the Freeview service.The channel is aimed mostly at a female audience and includes drama, comedy and reality series, many of which will airing on SKY for the first time.... |
Basic | ||
| 008 | Living | Basic | ||
| 009 | Food Television Food Television Food Television, often called Food TV, is a television channel based in New Zealand. It is a joint venture between John McCready/JT Taylor and Touchdown Productions Limited. The channel focuses entirely on programming relating to food.It is based in Auckland and is New Zealand's only channel... |
Basic | ||
| 010 | SoHo | Extra Channel | ||
| 011 | E! E! E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of... |
Basic | ||
| 012 | FOUR Four (New Zealand TV channel) Four is a television station operating in New Zealand and owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. The channel launched 6 February 2011 at 6pm. The channel broadcasts on channel frequencies previously used by C4 with some shows previously screened on TV3 and C4 now screening on... |
Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 014 | MTV MTV Australia MTV Australia is 24 hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. It is operated by Viacom International Media Networks Australia owned by Viacom and primarily features imported shows as well as locally produced... |
Basic | ||
| 015 | Comedy Central | Basic | ||
| 016 | U U (TV channel) TVNZ U is an interactive television channel, owned and operated by TVNZ. The channel launched March 13, 2011, and features reality programming, as well as an interactive live show and music content. It replaced the now defunct TVNZ 6... |
Basic | ||
| 017 | TVNZ Heartland TVNZ Heartland TVNZ Heartland is a pay TV channel operated by TVNZ featuring 100% New Zealand made shows, most shows are re-runs of classic shows previously screen on New Zealand TV as well as some more recent shows. While TVNZ channels are traditionally available free to air TVNZ Heartland is available... |
Basic | ||
| 019 | Māori Television Maori Television Māori Television is a New Zealand TV station broadcasting programmes that make a significant contribution to the revitalisation of the Māori language and culture . Funded by the New Zealand Government, the station started broadcasting on 28 March 2004 from a base in Newmarket.Te Reo is the... |
Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 020 | SKY Movies SKY Movies (New Zealand) Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in... |
Sky Movies | ||
| 021 | SKY Movies 2 SKY Movies (New Zealand) Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in... |
Sky Movies | ||
| 022 | Sky Movies Greats SKY Movies (New Zealand) Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in... |
Sky Movies | ||
| 023 | MGM MGM (TV channel) MGM Channel is a 24-hour global-based network that was launched in 1999 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that airs movies from MGM's celebrated 4,000-title library - the largest modern film library in the world, including West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, The Pope of Greenwich Village, The Manchurian... |
Sky Movies | ||
| 024 | TCM Turner Classic Movies (Asia) For more information on the international TCM, see Turner Classic Movies.Or the British version, see Turner Classic Movies .Turner Classic Movies is a digital television channel featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which... |
Sky Movies | ||
| 025 | Rialto Channel Rialto Channel The Rialto Channel, is a commercial television station in New ZealandIt began broadcasting on November, 2002 on SKY Network Television.The channel is a movie, documentary and entertainment channel broadcasting 24-hours, 7-days-a-week... |
Extra Channel (also Platinum Movies) |
||
| 028 | Preview | Basic | ||
| 029 | Upgrade Channel | Basic | An interactive service that allows the viewer to upgrade their channel subscription | |
| 333 | Sport Mosaic SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 030 | SKY Sport 1 SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 031 | SKY Sport 2 SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 032 | SKY Sport 3 SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 033 | SKY Sport Highlights SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 034 | ESPN ESPN Australia ESPN Australia is a 24 hour sports channel offered in Australia and New Zealand.Initially, ESPN was known as Sports ESPN on the Optus Vision cable television system, and focused on sports aired by its home network in the United States, including American football, baseball, and basketball... |
Sky Sport | ||
| 035 | TAB TV TAB TV TAB TV is a pay TV channel, available on SKY Digital channel 035 and TelstraClear InHomeTV channel 35. TAB TVis the thoroughbred horse racing, harness horse racing and greyhound racing broadcasting component of the New Zealand Racing Board TAB... |
Basic | ||
| 036 | Trackside | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 037 | The Rugby Channel The Rugby Channel The Rugby Channel is New Zealand's only channel dedicated to the national sport of rugby union. When live matches are not on, the channel screens classic games and documentaries relating to the sport... |
Platinum Sport | ||
| 038 | SKY ARENA Sky Arena SKY ARENA is SKY Network Television's sport Pay Per View system, which shows wrestling, mixed martial arts, boxing and occasionally concerts.-Sky Arena HD:The David Tua vs Monte Barrett rematch will be the 1st Arena event screened in HD... |
PPV | Sport PPV service | |
| 039 | SKY ARENA HD Sky Arena SKY ARENA is SKY Network Television's sport Pay Per View system, which shows wrestling, mixed martial arts, boxing and occasionally concerts.-Sky Arena HD:The David Tua vs Monte Barrett rematch will be the 1st Arena event screened in HD... |
PPV | Sport PPV service HD | |
| 040 | Disney Channel | Basic | ||
| 041 | Nickelodeon | Basic | ||
| 042 | Cartoon Network | Basic | ||
| 044 | Nick Jr. | Basic | ||
| 045 | Disney Junior Disney Junior (Australia and New Zealand) Disney Junior is a 24-hour Australian cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms. Since late-2005, Playhouse Disney Channel was launched on pay television provider Foxtel and its affiliates in Australia, but is only available on its digital... |
Basic | ||
| 046 | TVNZ Kidzone24 | Basic | ||
| 050 | Playin' TV Playin' TV Playin' TV is a North American, European and Latin American interactive television channel, owned by Visiware America.Playin’ TV is known to propose several different games in six categories. The board and card games include Solitaire, Poker, Chess and Backgammon. Action and adventure games include... |
Extra Channel | Interactive games channel | |
| 051 | MindGames | Extra Channel | Interactive quiz channel | |
| 059 | Te Reo Te Reo (TV) Te Reo is a New Zealand TV station broadcasting programmes exclusively in the Māori language with no advertising or subtitles. It also broadcasts special tribal programming and offers particular focus on new programming for the fluent audience.... |
Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 060 | MTV Hits | Basic | Starts 1 December 2011 | |
| 061 | MTV Classic MTV Classic Australia MTV Classic is non-stop classic music channel. It is the sister channel to MTV Australia and was formerly known as VH1 Australia. It focuses on music from the 1980s to 2000s.. The channel launched on 1 May 2010 in Australia and in New Zealand on 1 June 2011... |
Basic | ||
| 062 | Juice TV Juice TV Juice TV is a 24 hour music television channel operating from the Auckland suburb of Parnell in New Zealand. It is the only music channel that is New Zealand based.-History:... |
Basic | ||
| 063 | 63 63 (TV Channel) 63 is a New Zealand television channel that features music targeted at an older audience. It plays music spanning many decades and genres and is aimed at capturing audiences that would be put off by the programming on other music channels such as C4, its parent Juice TV and MTV... |
Basic | ||
| 070 | Discovery Channel | Basic | ||
| 071 | CI | Basic | ||
| 072 | National Geographic Channel National Geographic Channel (Australia) National Geographic Channel Australia and New Zealand is a subscription television network that features documentaries produced by the National Geographic Society... |
Basic | ||
| 073 | History History (Australian television channel) History, formerly known as Fox History and The History Channel, is a television channel in Australia and New Zealand, that broadcasts programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various metaphysical, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—often with observations and... |
Basic | ||
| 074 | BBC Knowledge BBC Knowledge (Worldwide) BBC Knowledge is an international television channel showcasing factual and non-fiction entertainment programming from the BBC and independent UK production houses. Wholly owned by BBC Worldwide, it is not related to the previous channel known as BBC Knowledge, an early digital channel which closed... |
Basic | ||
| 075 | Animal Planet Animal Planet (Australia and New Zealand) Animal Planet is a television channel which launched locally in Australia exclusively on Optus Television in October 1999. The channel is dedicated to programming that highlights the relationship between humans and animals... |
Basic | ||
| 076 | Travel Channel Travel Channel (UK) Travel Channel is a British satellite television channel, transmitting 24 hours a day in 19 languages across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific... |
Basic | ||
| 077 | TVNZ 7 | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 079 | The Arts Channel The Arts Channel The Arts Channel is a New Zealand television station dedicated to arts and cultural television from New Zealand and around the world.Its content is high quality arts entertainment and information... |
Extra Channel | ||
| 089 | Triangle STRATOS | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 090 | Sky News Sky News New Zealand Sky News New Zealand is a simulcast of Sky News Australia however carries the NZ branding, and appears on SKY Television. The programming is nearly identical to Sky News Australia, except for a nightly bulletin, plus a twice weekly afternoon one, being produced in New Zealand.- History :In the late... |
Basic | ||
| 091 | CNN CNN International CNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly... |
Basic | ||
| 092 | Fox News Fox News Channel Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation... |
Basic | ||
| 093 | BBC World News | Basic | ||
| 094 | Parliament TV | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 095 | CNBC CNBC Asia CNBC Asia is a business news television channel in Asia. A subsidiary of NBC Universal, it is the Asian service of the Consumer News and Business Channel . Its programmes originate from Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney and has bureaus in Tokyo and Seoul.... |
Basic | ||
| 096 | RT Russia Today Russia Today may refer to:* Russia Today, an English language 24-hour television news channel from Russia. It was launched in 2005 and is not related to an online news service of the similar name operated by EIN News... |
Basic | ||
| 098 | Weather Channel Weather Channel (New Zealand) Weather Channel is a 24 hour interactive channel with updated New Zealand weather information operated by MetService and broadcast on channel 098 on SKY TV.... |
Basic | Interactive weather channel | |
| 099 | Country 99 TV | Extra Channel | ||
| 100 | France 24 France 24 France 24 is an international news and current affairs television channel. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC World News, DW-TV, NHK World and RT, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. During 2010 the channel started broadcasting through... English |
Basic | ||
| 101 | France 24 France 24 France 24 is an international news and current affairs television channel. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC World News, DW-TV, NHK World and RT, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. During 2010 the channel started broadcasting through... Francais |
Extra Channel | ||
| 110 | CUE | Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 111 | Shine TV Shine TV Shine TV is a New Zealand Christian television channel operated by Rhema Broadcasting Group and broadcast on Sky TV channel 111, Christchurch UHF 56, Nelson UHF 44, Telstra Clear Digital TV and Freeview Channel 25 . It includes a mixture of locally made and overseas programming.Shine TV is... |
Basic | Free-to-air | |
| 112 | Daystar Daystar Television Network The Daystar Television Network is an American evangelical Christian television religious broadcasting network headquartered near Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Bedford, Texas... |
Basic | ||
| 201-216 | Sky Box Office Movies SKY Box Office (New Zealand) SKY Box Office is one of SKY Network Television's Pay Per View systems, which shows movies. It has 16 channels. Films currently come to SKY Box Office between two and three months after release on DVD.-External links:*... |
PPV | A group of pay-per-view movie channels | |
| 217 | Playboy TV Playboy TV Playboy TV is a premium monthly subscription television channel. Since its launch in 1982 in partnership with Cablevision which eventually sold their share back to Playboy, Playboy TV has become a leading entertainment channel for adult entertainment... |
PPV | Pay-per-view | |
| 218 | Adult Channel The Adult Channel The Adult Channel is a broadcast just for adults pay-per-view cable/satellite/IPTV channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, replacing the Home Video Channel on 30th June 1999... |
PPV | Pay-per-view | |
| 219 | Spice: Xcess | PPV | Pay-per-view | |
| 300-309 | World TV World TV Limited World TV Ltd is a television and radio company in New Zealand. It broadcasts ten television channels and two radio channels 24 hours daily, throughout New Zealand on SKY Network Television... |
World TV | A group of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese channels | |
| 310 | CCTV-9 CCTV-9 CCTV-9 is the documentary channel of the television network, CCTV in the People's Republic of China. This channel has a local Mandarin Chinese edition called CCTV-9, and an international English language edition called CCTV-9 Documentary. The English edition is carried by more satellites than the... |
Basic | ||
| 315 | STAR Plus Hindi STAR Plus STAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels... |
Extra Channel | ||
| 319 | Preview | Basic |
HD Channels
The following channels are available in High Definition for My Sky HDi and My Sky + subscribers:| Channel Name | Subscription package | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | TV One HD | Basic | Video guard encryption (Sky Subscribers only) |
| 002 | TV2 HD | Basic | Video guard encryption (Sky Subscribers only) |
| 003 | TV3 HD TV3 (New Zealand) TV3 is a New Zealand commercial television network, owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. Launched on 26 November 1989, the first private television network in New Zealand... |
Basic | Video guard encryption (Sky Subscribers only) |
| 010 | SoHo | SoHo subscription & HD Ticket | |
| 020 | Sky Movies HD SKY Movies (New Zealand) Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in... |
Sky Movies & HD Ticket | |
| 022 | Sky Movies Greats HD SKY Movies (New Zealand) Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in... |
Sky Movies & HD Ticket | |
| 030 | Sky Sport 1 HD SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport & HD Ticket | |
| 031 | Sky Sport 2 HD SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport & HD Ticket | |
| 032 | Sky Sport 3 HD SKY Sport (New Zealand) Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990... |
Sky Sport & HD Ticket | |
| 034 | ESPN HD ESPN Australia ESPN Australia is a 24 hour sports channel offered in Australia and New Zealand.Initially, ESPN was known as Sports ESPN on the Optus Vision cable television system, and focused on sports aired by its home network in the United States, including American football, baseball, and basketball... |
Sky Sport & HD Ticket | |
| 038 | SKY ARENA HD Sky Arena SKY ARENA is SKY Network Television's sport Pay Per View system, which shows wrestling, mixed martial arts, boxing and occasionally concerts.-Sky Arena HD:The David Tua vs Monte Barrett rematch will be the 1st Arena event screened in HD... |
Sport PPV service & HD Ticket | |
Radio Stations
| Channel Name | Subscription package | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 311 | Real Good Life World TV Limited World TV Ltd is a television and radio company in New Zealand. It broadcasts ten television channels and two radio channels 24 hours daily, throughout New Zealand on SKY Network Television... |
Basic | Chinese |
| 312 | New Supremo World TV Limited World TV Ltd is a television and radio company in New Zealand. It broadcasts ten television channels and two radio channels 24 hours daily, throughout New Zealand on SKY Network Television... |
Basic | Chinese |
| 313 | FM 104.2 World TV Limited World TV Ltd is a television and radio company in New Zealand. It broadcasts ten television channels and two radio channels 24 hours daily, throughout New Zealand on SKY Network Television... |
Basic | Chinese |
| 400-413 | Sky Digital Music | Sky Digital Music | A group of digital music channels |
| 500 | The Edge | Basic | |
| 501 | Radio New Zealand National | Basic | |
| 502 | Radio New Zealand Concert | Basic | |
| 505 | Tahu FM | Basic | |
| 506 | Calvary Chapel Radio | Basic |
Interactive Services:
- SkyBet - interactive sports betting service.
- Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) - Television listing information
- Playin TV Games - video games.
- MindGames - challenging video games.
- Weather Channel - interactive weather maps and information.
My Sky
In December 2005, Sky released its own Digital Video Recorder
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
(DVR), which essentially is an upgraded set top box similar to Foxtel IQ in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
or TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Called My Sky, it offers viewers the ability to pause live television, rewind television, record up to two channels at once straight to the set top box and watch the start of a recorded programme while still recording the end. It also gives viewers access to a revamped Guide and the new Planner, used to plan and access recordings at the touch of a button. However the PVR box remains the property of SKY Television.
One of the advertised features of My Sky is the ability of the system to record series of programs using the "Series Link" feature. But this has proven to be somewhat unreliable in that on occasions, intended future recordings are not made. This has occurred since the inception of the service. Sky TV say they are working to determine the cause of the random failures, and to rectify it. Soft rebooting the decoder appears to temporarily overcome the problem.
There was software in My Sky that after an hour of no signal from Sky then the decoder locks playback of pre-recorded programmes. This was discovered after the Optus B1 satellite was unable to broadcast Sky to over 600,000 subscribers.
This generation of box was replaced by My Sky HDi when it launched on 1 July 2008.
My Sky HDi
SKY Movies (New Zealand)
Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in...
, Sky Movies Greats
SKY Movies (New Zealand)
Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in...
, Sky Sport 1
SKY Sport (New Zealand)
Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990...
, Sky Sport 2
SKY Sport (New Zealand)
Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990...
, as well as free-to-air channels TV ONE, TV2, and TV3
TV3 (New Zealand)
TV3 is a New Zealand commercial television network, owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. Launched on 26 November 1989, the first private television network in New Zealand...
.
The boxes allow connection of to up to four satellites which can work with its four TV tuner cards in any combination. Two channels can be recorded at once, while another can be watched live and the fourth is for a non-real time pay per view service.
The device has a 320GB HDD however only 160GB is available for recording, the remaining is reserved for on-demand downloads.
The quality of My Sky HDi is 576i via component and 720/1080i via HDMI.
A new feature was released exclusive to MY SKY HDi on 6 July 2010 called Record Me. This feature allows subscribers to press the green button on programme advertisements to record that advertised programme.
As of 31 December 2010, there are 231,072 My Sky HDi subscribers.
My Sky +
On 1 July 2011, a new service called My Sky + was launched, and is the successor to the My Sky HDi service released in 2008.
It has a 1T hard drive which makes it capable of recording 4 times the amount of content than its predecessor.
The box is 3D
3D television
A 3D television is a television set that employs techniques of 3D presentation, such as stereoscopic capture, multi-view capture, or 2D-plus-depth, and a 3D display – a special viewing device to project a television program into a realistic three-dimensional field.- History :In the late-1890's,...
ready in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...
which will be screened on Sky Sport in 3D.
Sky On Demand
Sky announced late 2006 that it will be using the 30% reserved disk space in the PVR to offer a video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service to its My Sky customers. This service commenced in 2007 offering 12 - 15 titles at any one time. New titles are downloaded automatically from the Optus D1 satellite to the PVR and listed only when they are available for purchase and instant playback.
Copy Protection
In May 2009 Sky introduced copy protection on My Sky and My Sky HDi decoders limiting the ability to copy material from My Sky/My Sky HDi to DVD/HDD recorders and to PCs. TV One, Two and Three, Sky Movies, Sky Movies 2, Sky Movies Greats, MGM & TCM have a copy-once encoding meaning movies can be copied however any further copying is prevented. Sky Box Office channels, including Adult channels are copy protected so DVD/HDD recorders & PCs will not record from these channels. Other channels are not copy protected. Copy protection technology is not built into other decoders.
Remote Record
In August 2009 a new online service was launched where customers can log on and set their My Sky or My Sky HDi's to record programmes.
The instruction to record a programme is sent to the set-top boxes via satellite.
Sky Mobile TV
In December 2006, Sky announced that it will be launching a new mobile television service to Vodafone New ZealandVodafone New Zealand
Vodafone New Zealand is a British owned telecommunications company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Plc operating in New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest mobile phone operator, based in Auckland, New Zealand and was formed in 1998, after Vodafone purchased BellSouth's New Zealand operations...
's 3G customers.
The channels include:
- Adult swimAdult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
- Cartoon Network
- Comedy CentralComedy Central New ZealandComedy Central is a 24 hour comedy television channel owned by Viacom, broadcasting to New Zealand. The channel launched on 1 April 2009...
- Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel AustraliaDiscovery Channel is a television channel available on cable and satellite television in Australia. The Australian version of the Discovery Channel was previously operated by XYZnetworks, who also own the exclusive distribution rights for the channel.It was launched in July 1995, replacing the...
- MTV
- E!E!E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
- Trackside
- Disney JuniorDisney Junior (Australia and New Zealand)Disney Junior is a 24-hour Australian cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms. Since late-2005, Playhouse Disney Channel was launched on pay television provider Foxtel and its affiliates in Australia, but is only available on its digital...
- Disney Channel
- WWEWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
- Nickelodeon
- Sky NewsSky News New ZealandSky News New Zealand is a simulcast of Sky News Australia however carries the NZ branding, and appears on SKY Television. The programming is nearly identical to Sky News Australia, except for a nightly bulletin, plus a twice weekly afternoon one, being produced in New Zealand.- History :In the late...
- Sky Sport LiveSKY Sport (New Zealand)Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990...
- Sky Sport NewsSKY Sport (New Zealand)Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky Network Television. Sky Sport 1 was launched in 1990...
Sky TV App
Sky has released a mobile appApplication software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
which works on iOS devices such as iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
es. The app contains an electronic program guide, remote record capabilities (for MySky HDi), Facebook & Twitter social functions and automatic programme reminders. The app has been a success, with over 50,000 downloads from the iTunes App Store in just four weeks.
Skywatch
Sky also provides a Skywatch monthly magazine to all its customers. The latest readership survey shows that Skywatch has a readership of 965,000 which makes it the largest magazine read in New Zealand, and the largest monthly magazine.The magazine provides monthly listings for Sky channels, as well as highlights and features.
Sky Sport The Magazine
In January 2007, Sky launched Sky Sport The Magazine, as the published extension of the Sky Sport television package. The magazine features articles by local and international sports writers, as well as sports photography.Fatso
Sky also owns an Online DVD rentalOnline DVD rental
DVD-by-mail services allow a person to rent DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, video games and VCDs, among other film media online; for delivery by mail. Generally, all interaction between the renter and the rental company takes place through the company's website....
service - Fatso
Fatso (online DVD rental service)
Fatso is an Online DVD rental service based in Auckland, New Zealand. and was founded in 2004 by Rob Berman of Westside Media. In 2008 it merged with competitors DVD Unlimited and Movieshack to form Screen Enterprises Limited, which operates a single service under the Fatso name...
.
iSKY
iSKY is SKY Television's online video on demandVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service, which launched in 2011. The service streams programmes from SKY's channels based on users' existing SKY subscriptions. There are also live streaming sports and news channels.
Currently iSKY offers programming from the following SKY channels:
- Disney Channel
- Disney JuniorDisney Junior (Australia and New Zealand)Disney Junior is a 24-hour Australian cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms. Since late-2005, Playhouse Disney Channel was launched on pay television provider Foxtel and its affiliates in Australia, but is only available on its digital...
- Nickelodeon
- Cartoon Network
- TVNZ Kidzone24Television New ZealandTelevision New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
- PRIMEPrime Television New ZealandPrime is the seventh national free-to-air television station in New Zealand. The station airs a mixed group of programmes, largely imported from Australia, the UK and the United States, as well as free-to-air rugby union, cricket and rugby league matches....
- the BOX
- UKTV
- VibeVibe (TV channel)Vibe is an entertainment channel on New Zealand's SKY Television. It is not part of the Freeview service.The channel is aimed mostly at a female audience and includes drama, comedy and reality series, many of which will airing on SKY for the first time....
- Living
- Food TelevisionFood TelevisionFood Television, often called Food TV, is a television channel based in New Zealand. It is a joint venture between John McCready/JT Taylor and Touchdown Productions Limited. The channel focuses entirely on programming relating to food.It is based in Auckland and is New Zealand's only channel...
- Comedy Central
- E!E!E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
- MTV
- TVNZ HeartlandTVNZ HeartlandTVNZ Heartland is a pay TV channel operated by TVNZ featuring 100% New Zealand made shows, most shows are re-runs of classic shows previously screen on New Zealand TV as well as some more recent shows. While TVNZ channels are traditionally available free to air TVNZ Heartland is available...
- SKY MoviesSKY Movies (New Zealand)Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealand operated by Sky Network Television. The original channel, Sky Movies was launched in 1990. A sister channel, Sky Movies 2 was launched towards the end of the 1990s. This was followed by the launch of Sky Movies Greats in...
- Rialto ChannelRialto ChannelThe Rialto Channel, is a commercial television station in New ZealandIt began broadcasting on November, 2002 on SKY Network Television.The channel is a movie, documentary and entertainment channel broadcasting 24-hours, 7-days-a-week...
- CI
- HistoryHistory (Australian television channel)History, formerly known as Fox History and The History Channel, is a television channel in Australia and New Zealand, that broadcasts programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various metaphysical, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—often with observations and...
- BBC KnowledgeBBC Knowledge (Worldwide)BBC Knowledge is an international television channel showcasing factual and non-fiction entertainment programming from the BBC and independent UK production houses. Wholly owned by BBC Worldwide, it is not related to the previous channel known as BBC Knowledge, an early digital channel which closed...
- Travel ChannelTravel Channel (UK)Travel Channel is a British satellite television channel, transmitting 24 hours a day in 19 languages across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific...
- The Arts ChannelThe Arts ChannelThe Arts Channel is a New Zealand television station dedicated to arts and cultural television from New Zealand and around the world.Its content is high quality arts entertainment and information...
- CNNCNN InternationalCNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...
(Live streaming) - Sky News New ZealandSky News New ZealandSky News New Zealand is a simulcast of Sky News Australia however carries the NZ branding, and appears on SKY Television. The programming is nearly identical to Sky News Australia, except for a nightly bulletin, plus a twice weekly afternoon one, being produced in New Zealand.- History :In the late...
(Live streaming) - SKY Sport 1SKY SportSky Sport is a group of nine sports satellite TV channels in Italian language produced and broadcast by Sky Italia.-Sky Sport 1:Sky Sport 1 is an association football -dedicated TV channel...
(Live streaming) - SKY Sport 2SKY SportSky Sport is a group of nine sports satellite TV channels in Italian language produced and broadcast by Sky Italia.-Sky Sport 1:Sky Sport 1 is an association football -dedicated TV channel...
(Live streaming) - SKY Sport 3SKY SportSky Sport is a group of nine sports satellite TV channels in Italian language produced and broadcast by Sky Italia.-Sky Sport 1:Sky Sport 1 is an association football -dedicated TV channel...
(Live streaming) - SKY Sport HighlightsSKY SportSky Sport is a group of nine sports satellite TV channels in Italian language produced and broadcast by Sky Italia.-Sky Sport 1:Sky Sport 1 is an association football -dedicated TV channel...
- ESPN3.com (iSKY exclusive, not available on television)
Future plans for the service also include movie download rentals and opening iSKY up to non-SKY subscribers.
Technical
Sky Digital subscribers get a standard 60-centimetre satellite dish installed on their home along with set-top boxes including modems for a return path.Sky switched from the elderly Optus B1 to the Optus D1 satellite for its DBS service on 15 November 2006. Initially, Sky used vertically polarised transponders on Optus D1 (as it had on Optus B1). However, on 31 July 2007 it moved its programming to horizontally polarised transponders with New Zealand-specific beams to be consistent with Freeview and to gain access to more transmission capacity. Sky have also purchased some of the capacity of Optus D3
Optus D3
Optus D3 is an Australian geostationary communications satellite, which is operated by Optus and provides communications services to Australasia. D3 was the third Optus-D satellite to be launched...
, which was launched mid August 2009, this gives Sky the ability to add more channels and upgrade existing channels to HD in the future.
A set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
(STB) is used to decrypt the satellite signals. Digital broadcasts are in DVB-compliant MPEG-2 (MPEG-4 AVC for HD broadcasts). Interactive services and the EPG
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
use the proprietary OpenTV system.