Lightbox (service)

Lightbox was a New Zealand subscription video on demand (SVOD) service offering a selection of television shows over a range of devices. The service was owned by national telecommunications provider Spark New Zealand but was purchased by satellite company Sky Television in December 2019. On 7 July 2020, Sky merged Lightbox into its own streaming service Neon using the existing streaming platform of Lightbox.^[1] Hema Patel was the general manager director of Lightbox.^[2]

In June 2014, Spark announced Lightbox (then called ShowmeTV), which allowed New Zealanders to stream TV shows, including Mad Men, Better Call Saul and Vikings.^[3][4] It was launched in August 2014.^[5][6]

In January 2015, Lightbox partnered with Coliseum Sports Media to deliver a subscription-based sports streaming service called Lightbox Sport. Lightbox Sport included golf, English Premier League football and French Top 14 rugby.^[7]

By March 2015, Lightbox faced competition from SVOD services Quickflix, Netflix and Neon.^[8]

In October 2019, a Horizon Research survey of more than 1,000 New Zealanders found that 18% of those surveyed subscribed to Lightbox. By contrast, 59% subscribed to TVNZ OnDemand, 56% to Netflix, 29% to Sky, 28% to ThreeNow and 7% to Neon.^[9]

In mid-December 2019, it was announced that Spark would be selling the Lightbox streaming service to the satellite television company Sky Television. Sky planned to merge Lightbox into its own online streaming service Neon on 7 July 2020. Spark also partnered with Sky to make the service available to Spark customers through the telecommunication company's entertainment offers during the first half of 2020. As part of the agreement, Sky met the operational costs of merging the two streaming services.^{[1][10][11][12]}

2020年6月中旬、SkyはLightboxが2020年7月7日にNeonに統合されることを発表しました。統合されたサービスはNeonブランドを維持しつつ、Lightboxのインターフェースと機能を引き続き使用し、Neonと旧Lightboxの両方からコンテンツを取り込んでいます。既存のSpark顧客はNZ$9.95の割引を受けることができます。^{[ 1 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ]}

7月7日、SkyはNeonとLightboxを正式に統合し、旧LightboxアプリはNeonとしてリニューアルされました。リニューアルされたNeonプラットフォームには、Lightboxのコンテンツといくつかの機能が組み込まれており、デバイスへの映画や番組のダウンロード、映画のレンタル、ユーザープロファイルの作成などの機能が含まれています。^{[ 15 ]}

Lightboxは、 Windows 7、Windows 8、OS Xコンピュータのウェブサイトから利用できるほか、 iOS、Android（バージョン4.2以降）、AirPlayを使用するApple TV、Android TV、Chromecast対応のSamsung Smart TV、PlayStation 3およびPlayStation 4コンソールなど、その他多くのデバイスでも利用可能でした。^{[ 16 ]}

Lightboxのコンテンツには、ニュージーランドのアニメコメディシリーズ「Bro'Town」やHuluのウェブシリーズ「ハンドメイド・テイル」などが含まれていた。^{[ 17 ] [ 18 ]}

• lightbox.co.nz