Vodafone TV is scheduled to close, despite amassing more than 100,000 users. Photo / FileVodafone TV is closing down, and finding a good replacement may be costly.History is littered with beloved gadgets that were nevertheless cancelled.
Remember the sleek Motorola Razr flip phone of the early 2000s? Or
the Philips V2000 video recorder, which appeared briefly in the 1980s as a flashy rival to VHS and Betamax video?
Then there’s TiVo, the TV set-top box that lets people record shows and skip the adverts. It was massive in the US and briefly went on sale here. But it fizzled out with the rise of streaming video services. These were all great devices that came into my life and left me bereft when they were discontinued.There are shades of TiVo’s demise in the closure of Vodafone TV, one of the best gadgets to emerge locally in the last decade. The streaming video service allows you to access premium Sky channels, Freeview channels and video apps such as Netflix and Amazon Prime via one compact box that plugs into your telly. There’s a nifty electronic programming guide included, too. It won rave reviews everywhere.But last December, it was announced that Vodafone TV was scheduled to close, despite amassing more than 100,000 users. Why? The content landscape shifted dramatically in the five years Vodafone TV existed, with the US streaming apps increasingly dominant. About 2.8 million Kiwis aged 15 or over now watch Netflix, according to ratings agency Nielsen, and 1.1 million watch Disney+.These apps are just a tap away on the screen of any smart TV bought in the past eight years or so. Vodafone TV ran out of room to grow. It was losing money. But as a user, I loved it, and so did many of you. It’s the gadget I’ve received more emails about than anything else. It made TV viewing simple, but soon it will be gone.Vodafone TV is due to close at the end of October. By that point, Sky TV claims, it will have its own internet streaming box ready to give to current Vodafone TV users who are subscribed to Sky channels through the service. Sky’s new box has experienced delays, so that closure date may be pushed out again. But it’s the logical successor to Vodafone TV if you are a Sky subscriber. I’m not, so I need to find an alternative quickly.Unfortunately, there’s nothing that quite matches Vodafone TV for me, because I don’t have a UHF aerial or satellite dish in my apartment building. If I had, I could plug the antenna connection into my Freeview-compatible smart TV and watch live free-to-air channels directly on my TV.Instead, I will use a little dongle called SmartVu ($150) to access a selection of Freeview channels over the internet. But that won’t let me record shows and skip the adverts, as I do with Vodafone TV. Instead, I’ll have to go to the on-demand services of the free-to-air channels to replay a show I missed seeing live.That’s frustrating, because Freeview On Demand, which bundles a library of TV shows from across Freeview channels, is also shutting down later this year. It, too, is a victim of the Netflix effect. It means I’ll now have to use the different TVNZ+, ThreeNow and Māori+ apps to watch episodes that have already aired.The bottom line is that if you want to recreate the Vodafone TV experience as closely as possible, you will need a UHF or satellite connection, coupled with a compatible smart TV or Freeview recorder box (about $400).Sky may deliver nirvana to its stranded subscribers with its new streaming box, if it gets its act together in time. Hang in there, and remember, you are still a Vodafone customer. Hassle them for advice and make sure you claim the $75 credit they are offering those who bought Vodafone TV recently but who, come October, will be left with a useless black box. .
