Sky TV fires up NEON to rival Spark's Lightbox

Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir in the Tex-Mex version of The Bridge, one of the shows NEON will offer.

Sky TV has confirmed December as the launch date of its long-awaited subscription video on demand service (SVOD) which will offer movies and shows for $20 a month.

Branded "NEON", the service will be available on PC and MC and on selected iPhones and iPad via an app.

NEON content will also be able to streamed to televisions via Apple TV airplay or laptops from HDMI cables, though owners of Xbox 360s and Samsung Android tablets will have to wait until the New Year to be utilise the service.

The television show offerings will include early seasons of Game of Thrones, Girls, Fargo and True Blood as well as the New Zealand debuts of the American remake of Scandinavian crime thriller The Bridge and US War of Independence spy drama Turn.

Sky will be unveiling more shows that will be available in the coming month.

The company is facing increased competition for viewers from web-based platforms, including Spark New Zealand's Lightbox, which launched last month, as well as overseas services from the likes of Netflix and Quickflix and Ezyflix.

Lightbox has a monthly subscription of $15 but doesn't offer any movies, while Quickflix has a base fee of $13 with other charges for premium content and movie rental.

Sky already offers subscribers live streaming to computers and tablets of some of its channels via its Sky GO app.

Sky says NEON will use "adaptive streaming" for best possible performance depending on internet speed as well as clear settings to help customers keep track of data usage.

The service will be available to anyone connected to the internet in New Zealand no matter which internet provider they use, though Sky says it is working with Vodafone to bundle the new service with its broadband plans.