New movies coming to Lightbox on pay-per-view
Holly Ryan
Spark hopes its new Lightbox Movies platform will differentiate it from other market players and boost its 300,000 subscriber numbers.
The platform, which launches in April, will feature new release movies on a pay-per-view model similar to Apple TV.
Any customer, whether they have a Lightbox account or not, can sign up to the service.
Prices will range depending on how recent a movie is, but for new releases the cost is expected to be about $7.
Lightbox general manager Hema Patel said the retail price of movies would be the same for Spark customers and others, but from time to time the company might do a campaign to give some movies free for its consumers.
Competitor Netflix already offers some movies, however because of studio rules these are all more than two years old.
Patel said operating a pay-perview model would allow Lightbox to show new release movies alongside its TV offering.
“In terms of viewer SubscriptionVideo-On-Demand (SVOD) we’ve always been number two behind Netflix and I think this will provide differentiation from all of our competitors,” Patel said.
“No one else is doing this in the market. I feel like we’ve taken feedback on board to create a product that I think will be really meaningful for customers.”
The company is also adding Lightbox Kids with children’s content and opening the platform to Black Panther multiple devices and mobile.
Movie titles for launch were still being confirmed, the company said, but it planned to have hundreds of titles immediately available with more added every week.
Lightbox would also continue to roll out TV content over the year.
Patel said the platform had developed significantly since it was first launched.
“We built the original Lightbox platform in the very early days of streaming services for New Zealand.
“Since then, [SVOD] services have matured and Kiwis are looking for streaming platforms that can deliver a variety of content, through a range of commercial models.”