ScreenScribe

On the eve of unveiling its groundbreaking 2015 range of TVs, complete with several NZ exclusives, to about 1400 retailers and media, including yours truly, at a Pacific-Asia forum in Bangkok, Samsung says fears of its Smart TVs spying on viewers are “groundless”. “There is no foundation to claims their Smart TV is recording users’ […]

Apologies for this site being down so long over Christmas-New Year but thanks to everyone who contacted me about its absence. It went down on December 28 because of an error at the domain registrar, over the renewal of the screenscribe.tv domain name, and appears no closer to being resurrected. Until ScreenScribe.tv is online again formally, […]

Buyers of Samsung Smart TVs will get three months’ free subscription to Lightbox if they take one home before the end of January. Spark’s streaming service is the latest app Samsung has added to its Smart TVs, which already include apps for TVNZ, TV3, Video Ezy and Coliseum. “We’re the only company that has actively […]

Spark’s Lighbox is adding 20 NZ productions to its streaming service from this weekend, although only a handful will be in HD. The most prestigious addition is the Jane Campion mini-series, Top of the Lake, which was shot in HD and released on Blu-ray internationally but here was only broadcast in SD and distributed on […]

One of Lightbox’s exclusive acquisitions, Outlander, debuted to out-sized ratings in the US at the weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it notched up a “multiplatform best” for the Starz cable channel, delivering 3.7 million viewers in total. “Though the network had a big success in Spartacus and recently got solid performances from Power and Da Vinci’s Demons, Outlander has given the […]

New subscription video on demand service Lightbox may be a Netflix-lite but it will still launch with NZ’s most comprehensive line-up of online TV shows in HD. Yet while it will lure many subscribers with its $15-a-month, all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of comedy and drama, Sky TV and the broadcasters will still have first dibs on all […]

New Zealand’s newest video on demand service will stream virtually all of its content in HD. Lightbox, which goes live later this month, initially will offer 5000 hours of TV shows at launch and almost everything except children’s programmes will be accessible in 720p or 1080p. That will be in stark contrast to TVNZ, MediaWorks […]

The NZ Film Commission is becoming one of the country’s most innovative deliverers of digital content. This weekend it announced the simultaneous launch of New Zealand movie Everything We Loved on video-on-demand and in cinemas (as well as airlines). The traditional theatrical release model means films are normally not made available on other platforms for around 60 […]

Good news for Nurse Jackie fans frustrated by the latest season airing in SD on Four: you’ll soon be able to view it in HD on Quickflix. The streaming service has done a deal with Lionsgate Television International that adds not only the hospital comedy to its inventory but also Mad Men, Weeds, Nashville and Orange […]

Quickflix has launched a TV streaming initiative in HD for subscribers and casual customers alike. Quickflix has had a patchy track record for HD delivery but a spokeswoman says all the new TV titles will be “available in HD provided the relevant viewing device supports that resolution”. According to the press release, shows include Downton Abbey, […]