Vodafone reveals price for new TV, internet offering

Vodafone TV will bring TV to New Zealanders over fibre. Photo / File

Vodafone has unveiled the pricing of its Vodafone TV internet package.

From tomorrow, the telecommunications provider will offer unlimited Fibre or FibreX Vodafone TV plans for $139.99 per month, on a 12- or 24-month term.

Vodafone TV, which is only available for those with fibre, is a cloud-based service connecting multiple devices to free-to-air TV channels, movies and other services such as Netflix through a central box hub, similar to Apple TV.

The Vodafone TV bundle deal is $60 more, per month, than a standard unlimited fibre internet package with Vodafone.

The company said it intended to expand the range of channels and evolve the functionality of the service over time.

Last month Sky chief executive John Fellet said the content deal with Vodafone was an exciting step in its relationship with the telco.

Fellet said the partnership was the biggest project the two companies had worked on together, and had others in the pipeline.

Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams said the entertainment service had received great feedback.

"We've been blown away by the response from customers who have seen Vodafone TV in action and instantly get how much better television watching can be," Williams said.

FNZC research analyst and managing director Arie Dekker said he expected Sky to launch a product with similar features in the future.

Craig Young, chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) said the individual features bundled together in the Vodafone TV package worked out to be about the same if they were purchased separately.

"It's not that you're getting a super, super deal but it is definitely all in one place, and you're paying about the right amount," Young said.

"I think the thing it brings [to the market] is putting it all in one place, and we're seeing this increasingly from retail service providers - they're trying to bring media together with their telco services because there's nothing else that differentiates them."

Young said the offering wasn't much different to the functionalities offered through a smart TV, such as shortcuts to OnDemand and Netflix apps.

"For people who want simplicity and are happy to sign up to Vodafone, this isn't a bad way to go, but if you want to have flexibility of who your service provider is going to be then the advances seen in smart TVs is a good option."

He said he expected the service to be "relatively well-received".

Vodafone TV allows users to switch between viewing on their smartphone, tablets and the TV, and the ability to control what is being watched remotely.