Lightbox Scores Kiwi Content

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 DVD.

Other HD highlights include two seasons of The Jacqui Brown Diaries, the complete Nothing Trivial and the series The Garden Pantry, How to Look at a Painting and The Big Picture.

“Lightbox aims to offer the best in each category and, as a home grown service, one category we have always been keen to carry is New Zealand-made television,” programming chief Maria Mahony says.

“We want to build a comprehensive collection of shows that represent the depth and variety and weirdness of the New Zealand imagination and that tell local stories that need to be told.

“This latest drop of shows is our first step down that path.”

The new local content includes:

• Aftershock (from next week)
• Being Eve (S1 – 2)
• bro’Town (S1 – 5)
• Clare (from next week)
• Eruption (from next week)
• Here To Stay
• Holly’s Heroes
• How To Look At A Painting
• Kaitangata Twitch
• Maddigan’s Quest
• Mataku (S1 – 2)
• Nothing Trivial (S1 – S3 plus telefeature)
• Out Of The Blue
• The Big Picture
• The Garden Pantry
• The Hot House
• The Insider’s Guide To Happiness
• The Insider’s Guide To Love
• The Jaquie Brown Diaries (S1, S2).