A Vodafone TV box and remote (foreground). The service delivers Sky and free-to-air channels over UFB fibre or cable, eliminating the need for a Sky dish, and supports apps like Netflix. Photo / File
Vodafone NZ is offering its customers refunds on a three-tiered system as it prepares to switch off its Vodafone TV service in September.
The telco says around 100,000 customers use Vodafone TV.
Those who bought a Vodafone TV box within six months of its December announcement will get a full $179 refund on the retail cost.
Those who bought a Vodafone TV between seven and 18 months before the announcement will receive $100.
And those who bought one more than 18 months prior will get $75.
Customers will get a letter outlining the offer over the next two days.
The telco says some 40,000 customers who paid for their Vodafone TV box will qualify. The other 60,000 received their Vodafone TV free as part of a broadband bundling offer.
The 60,000 Vodafone TV boxes supplied free are still owned by Vodafone and need to be returned. The telco is asking customers to fill in an online form (here) to receive a recycling return bag.
Vodafone says it is liaising with Sky on the transition, and will also offer advice to customers who want to access free-to-air TV and apps through an alternative technology such as Google Chromecast.
A Vodafone TV box connects to a television and offers free-to-air TV, all of Sky's channels over fibre through a wholesale deal, plus Netflix and other streaming apps. Customers pay standard Sky and Netflix rates if they chose the paid content options.
Sky has not said how many of the 100,00 Vodafone TV customers chose to pay for its channels.
Vodafone TV customers who do pay for Sky channels can switch to a Sky decoder (or Sky's new internet-connected box, still on the way, if that arrives in time - see below). Their billing has already been switched to Sky in a change made last month.
In December, Vodafone said it was switching off Vodafone TV because it was a money-loser.
"We would rather invest into areas like customer service, network and technology to provide customers with great connectivity and digital services, instead of continuing to run VodafoneTV as a loss-making service," Vodafone comms lead Nicky Preston said.
"It's fair to say VodafoneTV didn't reach the customer numbers or scale that we hoped it would, and has been operating at a loss," Preston added.
And the market was only going to get more challenging.
"The content landscape has rapidly changed, especially with a proliferation of internet-connected devices on which to view content, from Smart TVs to tablets and phones," Preston said.
Sky TV will also start rolling out its next-generation box from mid-year, which will include 4K ultra high definition, broadcast channels delivered over fibre and support for third-party apps like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video - eliminating Vodafone TV's advantage in features.
Another major development is that after a sharp rise in Neon and Sky Sport Now subscribers over the past year, nearly half of Sky TV's customers are now box-less.
At its interim results briefing last month, Sky said its total customer base had increased from the year-ago 927,000 to 984,000 as its streaming customers surged to 431,000 and those using a decoder fell from 565,000 to 545,000.
Air NZ engine problems mean just over half of flights are departing on time.