ScreenScribe

TV3 has confirmed that The Simpsons again will screen in HD when the long-running ‘toon resumes Sunday night screenings on the network (thanks to thx1138 for the heads-up). When MediaWorks relaunched Four as a fledgling youth entertainment channel, it used The Simpsons as a signature attraction to build viewership and took it off TV3 to [...]

HD movies will be part of the streaming service Australian-based Quickflix offers Kiwis when it launches today. At this stage it’s not known how many movies will be in HD, or if there will be HD TV shows, too, and whether they’ll cost a premium over SD content. Ironically, the service’s launch already has hit [...]

Good news and bad for My Sky HDi subscribers – there’s more HD coming but it will cost extra. Sky has just announced it will introduce Sky On Demand HD next month, a service that will let subscribers download blockbusters in HD for $7.99 a title. That’s $1 more than what it costs for SD [...]

Sony’s claim that its new PlayTV PVR offers more features than other PVRs has been thrown into doubt by a damning NBR online report. It highlights failings that make PlayTV sound inferior to other PVRs and speculates a rift between Sony and MediaWorks is partly to blame. Like TiVo, PlayTV’s EPG will be hobbled by [...]

Sky TV and Microsoft are exploring the possibility of “Xbox Kinect integration” in NZ. In the UK, the two have just announced a partnership that will let Xbox 360 owners watch Sky TV on-demand using the upcoming Kinect motion control system. Reportedly, owners will be able to move through channels using hand gestures or via [...]

While Sky subscribers continue to fork over $100-plus a month for a handful of HD channels, across the Tasman sister satcaster Foxtel soon will be offering 24 HD channels and a 25th dedicated to 3D. Compare this with Sky’s paltry movie channels (two) and sports channels (two), along with the non-exclusive TVNZ and TV3 HD [...]

Since this morning’s posting, the NZ Press Association has filed this report about the press conference. And Freeview general manager Sam Irvine has welcomed the extension of HD coverage: “Today’s announcement also means a further year of funding for Freeview, more efficient use of spectrum and the availability of new technologies, all of which will [...]

Does CASPA stand a ghost of a chance against Sky TV? TVNZ thinks so – that’s why it invested $8 million in 33% of Hybrid Television Services, the licensee of TiVo in NZ and Australia. Hybrid has used the belated launch of TiVo in this part of the world – a decade after it revolutionised [...]

Two months after notifying customers that consumer testing of its super-duper DTR was about to start, TelstraClear still doesn’t have a date for when the service will go live. The media device sounds like a fantastic gizmo that combines a smart, sleek look with the best functionality of MySky HDi and TiVo — but with [...]

It turns out Sky TV boss John Fellet does have a “friggin’ idea” of when the satcaster may launch a 3D service here, at least according to today’s NZ Herald. In his column, media commentator John Drinnan reports the possibility of Sky using spectrum from the four analogue channels it will shut down next month [...]