There's lots on the box!

By FIONA RAE

Hold the phone: there actually is something to watch on the box. The digital box that is and Sky, with its TVNZ deal and the addition of BBC World and E! Entertainment, is the winner on the night.

Sky now has more digital than UHF subscribers. Out of approximately 439,000 customers in November, a third of New Zealand households. Of that total, 295,000 are digital. UHF subscribers are switching; new subscribers are going digital.

The deal with TVNZ in November to carry TV One and TV2 on the digital service must also be helping to push subscriber numbers. All free-to-air channels are now available on Sky Digital, a particularly attractive enticement to anyone in a poor reception area: great pictures for all the channels, especially Prime, plus extras.

And those vociferous fans of BBC World must be in seventh heaven. The start-up digital package, apart from the set-up cost, is cheaper than the three top-tier UHF packages. That leaves Beebophiles gazing contentedly at BBC World all day instead of taping TVNZ's overnight coverage and watching back on cruddy old VHS (so 20th century).

Sky Digital also offers clear sound for Concert FM and National Radio and, for rural listeners, the country station Wolf broadcasts from the mainland.

Another addition is the E! Entertainment channel, which will be added to the Digital start-up package on April 1. The ultimate celebrity gossip channel, E! boasts entertainment news, celebrity homes, coverage of all the awards ceremonies and even a New Zealander (see panel).

Meanwhile, over at TVNZ, the concept of providing digital channels and services is not a dead duck, despite the Government's decision just after the election not to allow the state broadcaster to invest heavily in digital technology.

Even if Sky is now the dominant digital player, TVNZ's deal with Sky doesn't stop TVNZ originating new channels or services, according to the head of digital and online, Steven Smith.

Smith says the deal enables TVNZ to remain a player in the digital market and is a good solution for TVNZ.

"It means TVNZ has retained flexibility and control over its content," he says. It leaves TVNZ with the chance to put up other channels and it is assessing its options, including whether, like TV One and TV2, any new channels will be unencrypted (which means they could be received free by any other set-top box).

There are two areas that TVNZ is working on: interactivity around programmes and interactive advertising.

Programme interactivity means providing extras that relate to present programmes — kind of like a super-duper Teletext. While this isn't a money-spinner, it is about "improving the viewing experience", says Smith and, in an era of choice, choice and more choice, is a good way of encouraging viewer loyalty.

Interactive advertising is the commercial application of the digital technology: it might include further information about products, phone numbers, your nearest shop or how to order, or it might simply mean ordering a pizza by the telly.

Sky, too, has its own push on interactivity, having already introduced an interactive weather channel, which enables viewers to see weather information about a specific region, and a games channel. Both are accessed by the remote control.

Sky is also promising sports statistics, including live stats during a match and, like TVNZ, is talking about shopping through your TV set — from clothing, music and DVDs to (this seems to be a favourite) ordering a pizza.

Digital providers talk lovingly about e-mail and internet through your television but, although New Zealanders have been keen adopters of the internet era, it remains to be seen how many of us really want to be e-mailing and surfing in our living rooms using a wireless keyboard some distance from the screen, unlike a computer.

Sky has plans for this kind of e-mail system, but with e-mail on nearly every computer and now even some mobile phones, e-mail through your television will be a hard sell.

If there had been a collective shiver down the spine of middle New Zealand when the era of digital television was first discussed (suddenly everyone thought they'd need a special sort of telly), it seems now we've warmed to the idea.

The Government has been inviting submissions to its digital television discussion document and, after April, we'll know more about the shape of things to come when the Government will say what role it intends to play.

Greg Agnew, our man in Los Angeles

"Thank you for contacting me through E! Online," says Greg Agnew's e-mail message response. "Due to the high volume of e-mail I receive, unfortunately I don't get a chance to respond to each individual message. I do, however, appreciate your interest in my work and want to thank you for watching me on E! Entertainment Television."

Being big means never having to answer your own e-mail. And the guy from Auckland is a senior news correspondent and producer for E! Entertainment, which launches on Sky Digital in April.

We've already seen some of the E! channel product here on TV3: Behind the Scenes and True Hollywood Story. In addition, there is travel show Wild On, Celebrity Homes, Talk Soup (a humorous run-down of the week's shenanigans on the talk shows) and — our favourite — makeover show Fashion Emergency (catchphrase: "Making America beautiful, one person at a time").

Agnew reports for E! News Daily, the entertainment news show.

The lad from Aorere College has covered the big ones too: OJ Simpson's civil and criminal trials, the Los Angeles earthquake, Princess Di's death and funeral and the September 11 attacks.

That's aside from American presidential elections, the handover of Hong Kong to China, Nelson Mandela's election, five Olympic Games (and is covering the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City).

Agnew was a correspondent for Sky TV, TVNZ and Radio New Zealand as well as a DJ on several LA radio stations. He worked on Entertainment Tonight and the Movietime network in the US before joining the E! channel.