TVNZ+ ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Ā-Tono), formerly known as TVNZ OnDemand, is an online New Zealand television and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

streaming service offered by

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

. It offers a variety of free content, such as news updates and programmes seen on TVNZ channels. TVNZ+ offers most of the programmes broadcast on air with licensing agreements to be shown for users in New Zealand. In addition, it offers dozens of local and international titles exclusively available on the platform.

History

Launch

In January 2007, TVNZ announced the launch of a new online service called TVNZ OnDemand in March that year, which would feature a wide range of content including the drama series ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

''. TVNZ OnDemand was launched on 20 March 2007 with an initial selection of 300 videos from 100 television shows. Early content included the television series and programs ''

Rude Awakenings ''Rude Awakenings'', a New Zealand comedy-drama television series, aired on TV One (New Zealand), TV One on Friday evenings. The first episode aired on 9 February 2007. By March it was averaging almost 320,000 viewers. It has been confirmed t ...

'', ''

Karaoke High ''Karaoke High'' is a short-lived New Zealand television drama series that aired on TVNZ. It was created by Sarah Mayberry and Kirsty McKenzie. The first episode was shown on the TVNZ website one week before it was shown on television. The first s ...

'', ''

Fair Go ''Fair Go'' is a New Zealand consumer affairs television programme hosted by Pippa Wetzell and Hadyn Jones. First aired in 1977, it is New Zealand's second longest-running local programme (after '' Country Calendar''). It is also highest-rate ...

'', ''

Agenda Agenda may refer to: Information management * Agenda (meeting), points to be discussed and acted upon, displayed as a list * Political agenda, the set of goals of an ideological group * Lotus Agenda, a DOS-based personal information manager * Pers ...

'', ''

Eating Media Lunch Eating Media Lunch (EML) was a satirical New Zealand news show hosted by Jeremy Wells. It aired on TV2 from 2003 to 2008. The show was frequently controversial during its run. Notable episodes In 2005 it shocked some viewers when it depi ...

'', ''Praise Be'', '' Treasure Island'', and ''Mai Time''. TVNZ OnDemand hosted shows and television clips from the TVNZ Archives. Some of the clips are free while others can be purchased using a credit purchasing system called PlayPoints. In early March, a young teenager named Kyle Wadsworth was able to access the unreleased website and start downloading shows prior to its official release. In April 2010, TVNZ announced that TVNZ OnDemand would be available on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

console, making it the first catch-up TV service to be optimised for viewing on the living room TV through PS3.

Watch First

From 2012, TVNZ OnDemand began uploading episodes of select shows prior to their airing on TVNZ channels and usually within a day of their original overseas airings (although sometimes this was weeks or months after their international airing). In February 2014, senior telco figure Jason Foden was appointed as TVNZ OnDemand's new General Manager and was tasked with leading the expansion of the streaming platform's content. TVNZ OnDemand reportedly experienced record growth over the past six months, a 90% increase on the previous year. It was also announced that TVNZ would be developing a newer and more innovative version of the streaming platform. In September 2014, it was announced that episodes of seventeen shows would be uploaded within a day of their airings in the US, coinciding with the 2014–2015 season. One of the shows, ''

Manhattan Love Story ''Manhattan Love Story'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by Jeff Lowell, who also served as an executive producer alongside Peter Traugott, Robin Schwartz, Rachel Kaplan, and Jon Liebman for ABC Studios. The series aired ...

'' was cancelled by the US network

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, but episodes continued to be uploaded to TVNZ OnDemand in line with their intended US airings, making TVNZ the de facto original broadcaster of the series.

Expansion

In April 2016, TVNZ shut down its children's programming channel

TVNZ Kidzone TVNZ Kidzone was a 24-hour New Zealand children's channel service run by state broadcaster Television New Zealand. The channel ran on Digital 106, channel 46 on Sky and channel 14 on Igloo. History Kidzone was originally a 12-hour service runnin ...

after the satellite provider Sky TV decided not to renew their contract. TVNZ transferred Kidzone's content online to TVNZ OnDemand. In October 2019, a Horizon Research survey of 1,000 adults estimated that 59% of adults used TVNZ OnDemand, making it the most widely used streaming service in New Zealand. Its competitors have included

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

(56%), Sky TV (29%), MediaWorks' ThreeNow (28%), Lightbox (18%), and

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

(7%).

Rebranding

On 13 June 2022, the service rebranded from TVNZ OnDemand to TVNZ+. TVNZ confirmed that the rebrand was not being used as an opportunity to introduce a premium version that would allow viewers to skip ads.

Services and pricing

TVNZ+ is available via its website,

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

iPhones and

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

mobile devices and tablets; several Smart TVs including

Apple TV An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, Samsung TV, Panasonic TV, Android TV, Sony TV, and LG TV; desktops and laptops;

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...

game consoles; Google

Chromecast Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with ...

and

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

devices. When first launched in March 2007, content streamed though TVNZ OnDemand was previously charged for. All content is now free, ad-supported, with advertisements being shown before, during and after videos.

Content

TVNZ+ has the distribution rights for ''

Batwoman Batwoman is a name used by several characters of DC Comics, both in mainstream continuity and Elseworlds. The best known Batwomen are Batwoman (Kathy Kane), Kathy Kane and Kate Kane. History * The first Batwoman (Kathy Kane), Batwoman, Kathy Ka ...

'', and the New Zealand paranormal television series '' Wellington Paranormal''. It also distributes the joint TVNZ and

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York. AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...

television series ''

The Dead Lands ''The Dead Lands'' is a 2014 New Zealand action film directed by Toa Fraser. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival where it had its world premier on 4 September 2014. It was selected ...

'', an adaptation of the 2014 New Zealand film ''

''. TVNZ+ also has distribution rights to multiple Paramount+ series.

References

External links

TVNZ OnDemand
{{VOD services TVNZ Video on demand services PlayStation 4 software