TVNZ to Test HD Ondemand

Next month TVNZ will stream Shortland Street ondemand in HD.

However, it can be viewed this way only on desktop, not in the iPad and iPhone video-on-demand apps the broadcaster released today.

“We’re trialling HD to see if there’s an appetite for it and will keep consumers posted on any development,” a spokeswoman told ScreenScribe.tv of the Vodafone-sponsored initiative.

Meanwhile, TVNZ’s general manager of digital media, Tom Cotter, says the TVNZ Ondemand iPad and iPhone apps are “only the beginning” of its mobile VOD plans.

“TVNZ is committed to ensuring New Zealanders have the choice to access their favourite shows on whichever screen they want, when they want.

“The launch of the TVNZ Ondemand app on iPhones and iPads is only the beginning.

“We are working with Samsung to develop an app for their Galaxy range which will give Kiwis more ways to watch the shows they love when they choose.”

TVNZ is the first NZ broadcaster to launch a VOD app for iPads and iPhones.

It calls the initiative a “natural progression” given its video streams have jumped 41% year-on-year and an estimated 46 per cent of New Zealanders have a smartphone and 10 per cent a tablet.

In 2012 the most watched programme on TVNZ Ondemand was Shortland Street (more than 4.9 million streams), followed by Coronation Street (1.1 million streams), New Zealand’s Got Talent (881,027 streams) and Revenge (651,485 streams).

TVNZ Ondemand can be viewed on PC and Mac desktop computers, Sony PlayStation 3 and the Samsung Smart TV; the TVNZ Ondemand app can be downloaded at the app Store.