There is a treasure-house of legal movies and television available to New Zealanders. Mauricio Frietas, tech website Geekzone’s creator, has compiled a comprehensive list
Of all the things you can do with fast broadband, entertainment is one of the first that comes to mind. And nothing displays current online entertainment consumption trends better than Netflix and YouTube. You see people streaming video content at home, at work (yes, they are watching training videos), on the bus, the train and on aircraft.
And yet, despite the vast amount of content carried by these two services, people still want more – more variety, more choice, better quality.
To help, we have compiled a list of services available in New Zealand to show you that what isn’t missing in the world of online entertainment is choice.
All the video categories are there – everything from documentaries to Japanese anime, to sports, movies and a variety of television series’. And there are regional offerings too, including Indian, Chinese and New Zealand movies. There is something to satisfy every appetite.
Some of these services are free access, while others are monthly subscription-based and others are supported by adverts. Some services are available through apps on mobile devices. These allow you to download movies and episodes of television series’ for offline viewing on smartphones and tablets.
Streaming services are also available for laptop and PC viewing, via your web browser. Some can even be viewed using the Freeview set-top box or on a smart TV. Some services will work with dongles (small modems) like Google’s chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV stick, or streaming boxes like Apple TV and Vodafone TV.
Although some services can be accessed however you choose, not all can, so you will need to do your homework by going through the list on the next page to find which services you would fancy – and how best to access them.
Available in NZ now
What is special about this list of streaming services is they are all available right now – and licensed to distribute their content in New Zealand. You don’t have to do anything fiddly like fire up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or modify your home network to use a third-party service, to bypass geo-blocking restrictions.
Something else worth considering is your security. You can’t assume a streaming service has distribution rights just because it offers a movie and accepts a credit card for payment. Some services are just pirate sites housed in a country with lax laws where the long arm of international law can’t reach the owners. In contrast, the list below gives you a safe start.
Lastly, the market is constantly changing, with new streaming services being launched and others being consolidated. The recent acquisition of Spark’s Lightbox by competitor Sky Television, in February, is an example.
For an up-to-date list, check out: https://gkz1.co/StreamNZ
The biggest choice
It may not be obvious, but there is huge choice in movies, TV shows and more out there that is legal. And – as our list shows – much of it is free
|
ABC News |
Live news |
Free |
|
Acorn TV |
British TV series |
Paid subscription |
|
Al Jazeera (TV only) |
Live news |
Free |
|
All Warrior Network |
US veteran content |
Paid subscription |
|
Amazon Prime Video |
Amazon originals, movie rentals |
Paid subscription |
|
AnimeLab |
Japanese anime and movies |
Free with ads, paid subscription |
|
Apple TV+ |
Apple originals, movie rentals |
Paid subscription |
|
Beamafilm |
Movies |
Free with library card |
|
Bloomberg TV |
Live News and market data |
Free |
|
British Pathe TV |
Documentaries, classic movies |
Paid subscription |
|
Choice TV On demand |
TV shows, movies |
Free |
|
Classic Cinema Online |
Public domain movies |
Free |
|
ConTV |
TV shows, movies |
Free |
|
Crunchyroll |
Anime |
Paid subscription |
|
CuriosityStream |
Documentaries |
Paid subscription |
|
Disney+ |
TV shows, movies |
Paid subscription |
|
Docplay |
Documentaries |
Paid subscription |
|
Fanpass |
SKY sports, ESPN |
Paid subscription (week, month) |
|
Freeview Plus (with certified Freeview TVs & set-top boxes) |
Free-to-Air TV |
Free |
|
France 24 |
Live news (English) |
Free |
|
Free movies online |
Public domain movies |
Free |
|
Gary Hustwit |
Documentaries |
Rent/buy individual videos |
|
Google Play Movies |
Movies |
Rent/buy individual movies |
|
Heihei (Kids programmes, NZ On Air) |
Kids’ content by NZ On Air & TVNZ |
Free |
|
HGTV (Home & Garden TV) |
TV shows |
Free |
|
IMDB Trailers |
Movie trailers |
Free |
|
Internet Archive |
Public domain movies |
Free |
|
iWonder |
Documentaries |
Paid subscription |
|
Kanopy |
Movies |
Free with library or university card |
|
Kungfury |
Movies |
Free |
|
Lightbox |
TV shows, movies |
Paid subscription, movie rental |
|
Maori TV |
TV shows |
Free |
|
Maple Films |
Short indie movies |
Free |
|
Microsoft Movies & TV |
Movies |
Rent/buy individual movies |
|
MLB |
MLB (Major League Baseball) |
Free |
|
Mubi |
Movies |
Paid subscription |
|
NBA TV |
NBA (National Basketball Association) |
Paid subscription |
|
Neon |
TV shows, movies |
Paid subscription |
|
Netflix |
TV shows, movies, documentaries |
Paid subscription |
|
NFL Game Pass |
Sports (incl Superbowl) |
Paid subscription |
|
NHL |
NHL (National Hockey League) |
Paid subscription |
|
NZ Film On Demand |
NZ movies, documentaries |
Rent/buy individual movies |
|
NZ First TV |
TV shows, movies |
Free, rent/buy individual movies |
|
NZ On Screen |
Documentaries and trailers |
Free |
|
Parliament TV |
New Zealand Parliament sittings |
Free |
|
Play Stuff |
News and documentaries |
Free |
|
Public Domain Movies |
Public domain movies |
Free |
|
Public Domain Torrents |
Public domain movies |
Free |
|
Red Bull TV |
Sports |
Free |
|
ShinePlus |
TV shows |
Free |
|
Sideline sports |
School sports |
Individual matches, pass |
|
SKY GO |
TV shows, movies |
SKY subscription required |
|
Spark Sport |
Sports |
Paid subscription |
|
Spuul |
Indian movies |
Paid subscription |
|
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (some videos may be restricted to USA) |
TV show |
Free |
|
Thought Maybe |
Documentaries |
Free |
|
Top Documentary Films |
Documentaries |
Free |
|
TV3 On Demand |
FTA TV shows on demand |
Free |
|
TVNZ On Demand |
FTA TV shows on demand |
Free |
|
Twitch |
e-sports |
Free |
|
Viddsee |
Chinese movies |
Free |
|
Viki |
Asian TV shows and movies |
Paid subscription |
|
WatchMe |
Short New Zealand movies |
Free |
|
YouTube Movies |
Movies |
Rent/buy individual videos |
|
Yupptv |
Indian TV shows and movies |
Paid subscription |
|
Maple Films |
Short indie movies |
Free |
