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| Company type | Joint-venture betweenSky Network Television andTVNZ |
|---|---|
| Industry | PrepaidSubscription Television |
| Founded | December 2011 |
| Defunct | March 2017 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | John Fellet,CEO of Sky Peter Macourt,Chairman of Sky Sir John Anderson, Chairman of TVNZ, Chaz Savage,GM of IGLOO |
| Products | Igloo PrepaidPay TV |
| Website | igloo.co.nz |
Igloo was aNew Zealand prepaidpay TV service launched on 3 December 2012.[1][2][3][4] The Pace-supplied receiver provides customers access to free-to-air channels through Freeview, and previously a small selection of pay TV channels could be purchased for 30 days. On 1 March 2017, Igloo closed and the receiver was updated to allow viewers to use New Zealand's Freeview television service.
Igloo was founded bySky Network Television andTVNZ in December 2011. Details were announced on December 8 via a press release. Sky held a 51% share in the venture while TVNZ, the minority shareholder has 49%. TVNZ later sold their shares back to Sky in 2013 before completely exiting the venture in 2014.[5]
Igloo was originally scheduled to start during the first half of 2012,[6] however, they encountered delays and had to push the launch date back to December 2012.[7] The service offered free-to-airHD (via terrestrial), along with pay TV channels provided by Sky, to a set top box being developed by Sky. It used digital terrestrial frequencies owned by Sky previously used for their analogue terrestrial offering (which is no longer offered). Sky was required to make use of the spectrum or it would be taken by the Government.
In July 2016 Sky announced that Igloo will end its transmissions from March 2017. Customers will no longer be able to purchase Igloo Channel Packs, watch Front Row events or Igloo On Demand. Igloo boxes will still be able to receive Freeview channels but without any technical support or the EPG.[8][9]
The service was targeted at individuals who may not be able to commit to a contract or do not need all of the channels available from the regular Sky pay TV offering.[10]
Viewers could order live sport events viapay-per-view on the Front Row channel, as well as stream TV shows and movies using a broadband connection. The device provided by Igloo has the ability to "live pause" when a USB flash drive is inserted (as there is nohard disk drive built into the device). An 8 GB flash drive will allow for around 60 minutes of live pause.[11]
Pay-channel broadcasting wasDVB-T2256-QAM transport via UHF channel 30 (546 MHz) or 31 (554 MHz). This was separate from theDVB-T64-QAM transports used byFreeview.
Sky and TVNZ defined avirtual channel ordered that groups channels by importance to the service operator as follows.
General entertainment channels were below 20 which includedTVNZ's free-to-airTV One (selected HD), free-to-airTV2 (selected HD),TVNZ Heartland andTVNZ Kidzone24,MediaWorks' free-to-airTV3 (selected HD) and free-to-airFour, free-to-airPrime, Front Row (pay-per-view sports),News Corporation'sNational Geographic,Viacom Media Networks channelsMTV Hits andComedy Central,Vibe,BBC Worldwide'sBBC UKTV,BBC Knowledge andBBC World News,Food Television andDiscovery Communications'Animal Planet.
All other national Freeview channels spilled over from 20 to 29 and 35 and from 50 to 59 which included timeshifted hour delay channels forTV One,TV2,TV3 andFour, government fundedMāori Television andParliament TV,Trackside,ChoiceTV,The Shopping Channel,World TV's Chinese channels CTV8 and TV9 and the Christian channels Firstlight and Hope Channel.
Kordia locally inserted channels were from 30 to 34 which for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty is tvCentral, for Rotorua are TV Rotorua and Info-Rotorua, for Auckland is TV33 and for Whangarei is Channel North.
Freeview audio only radio channels were from 36 to 39 which includes BaseFM.
| Service | Description | Irdeto LCN | DVB name | Streams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4101 | Animal focused reality TV | 13 | Animal Planet | 2001 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3001 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 2101 (teletext subtitle), 1101 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4102 | BBC Worldwide news and information service | 16 | BBC World News | 2002 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3002 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1102 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4103 | US and UK re-run sitcoms, stand-up and sketch comedy | 9 | Comedy Central | 2003 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3003 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1103 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4104 | BBC Worldwide soap operas, re-run dramas and comedies | 7 | BBC UKTV | 2004 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3004 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 2104 (teletext subtitle), 1104 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4105 | UK/Australian/US DIY and competition cooking | 12 | Food TV | 2005 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3005 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1105 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4106 | BBC Worldwide documentaries and reality TV | 11 | BBC Knowledge | 2006 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3006 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 2106 (teletext subtitle), 1106 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4107 | Music video compilations | 15 | MTV Hits | 2007(H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3007 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1107 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4108 | TVNZ-owned packaging of youth shows | 14 | TVNZ Kidzone24 | 2008 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3008 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1108 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4109 | US/Australian documentaries and reality TV | 8 | National Geographic | 2009 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3009 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 2109 (teletext subtitle), 1109 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4110 | TVNZ-owned archived and funded material | 17 | TVNZ Heartland | 2010 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3010 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 2110 (teletext subtitle), 1110 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4111 | US/UK re-runs and reality TV | 10 | Vibe | 2011 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3011 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1111 (Irdeto key control) |
| 4112 | Pay-per-view events | 6 | Front Row | 2012 (H.264@2 Mbit/s – 720x576ix25), 3012 (HE-AACv2@32 kbit/s – 48000x2), 1112 (Irdeto key control) |
