mattwnz:alasta:old3eyes: I wonder if the bean counters at TVNZ and Mediaworks are trying to figure out how to make the 6.00PM news go behind a paywall ... Wait Kill it on FTA and only have it on Sky..
Free to air broadcasters must be bleeding revenue as a result of people using PVRs to skip ads, pirating TV shows from overseas, and simply turning the TV off in favour of other online media. I wouldn't be surprised to see them radically change their business model over the coming years.
They have already begun changing. You will notice that some of their premium programs are already being shown on TVNZ on demand in advance of them appearing on TV. So I suspect that in the near future, that this will be a service they will charge for, and if you want to watch free, you will have to wait for it to be shown on TV. TVNZ on demand I recall did used to be a pay for service for some things, but probably due to poor uptake, they made it free. But these things can't be free forever.
Before I would pay for On Demand it will have to be in HD with DD5.1 sound and I can play it on something I already have rather than have to buy new hardware..