What is Streaming Service NEON?

NEON is NZ’s homegrown streaming service. Run by SKY. NEON is very much like a streamlined version of what’s available across the satellite SKY service, offering the best hit TV shows, miniseries and blockbuster movies all in one place.

In this article, we cover:

• What is NEON?
• What can I watch on NEON?
• How much does NEON cost?
• Is NEON worth the money?

What is NEON?

NEON first launched back in 2015, offering a mix of TV and movies from SKY’s satellite service. A couple of years later, NEON spun-off a cheaper TV-only package. However, since merging with Spark’s own streaming service Lightbox last year, it’s offered just the single subscription service, covering TV shows and movies.

Key features

• Device compatibility – smart TV, mobile, desktop and game console devices
• Maximum simultaneous streams – two
• Download to watch offline – selected content
• Video quality – HD and SD
• Free trial – Receive a free seven day trial when you sign up for monthly or annual plan.
• Kids content/profiles – yes

What can I watch on NEON?

Sky’s Neon streaming service catalogue is stacked with an extensive range of TV series and movies from around the world. There’s certainly no shortage of high-profile TV series courtesy of Sky’s partnership with HBO. This makes Neon an excellent choice for those wanting access to the many hard-hitting and critically acclaimed series from HBO, particularly as HBO Max isn’t currently available in New Zealand.

The Neon library spans an array of genres across both TV and movie programming, including New Zealand content.

What’s streaming now

How much does NEON cost?

A standard Neon subscription costs $19.99 per month or, for a cheaper alternative, $179.99 for an annual subscription. It also recently added a basic, ad-supported option, for just $12.99 per month. This includes all the same content but provides only:

• One stream at a time
• Two accounts total (as opposed to five)
• No downloads
• 540p streaming (as opposed to 1080p)

However, if you have selected Spark mobile or broadband plans, you can bundle it for $13.99/month.

How does it compare?

• Prime Video: $10.99/month
• Apple TV+: $14.99/month
• Disney+: $14.99
• Netflix: from $12.99/month
• AMC+: from $4.99/month
• Hayu: $8.99/month

Is NEON worth the money?

In a nutshell: YES! Thanks to its deals with big overseas TV companies, there is always a stream of high-quality TV shows and miniseries you’ll want to watch or binge.

And then there are the movies, and these are what sets NEON apart from its competitors. Each month a new batch of big-name movies drops. So even if you watch just a couple each month, you’ll justify your subscription

While Netflix might have more choice, NEON has more quality. But saying that, there’s still a huge choice of things to watch on NEON, from new shows to whole seasons of classics and plenty of kids content, too.

If you subscribe to SKY purely for its movie channels and quality TV channel SoHo, it’s cheaper to cancel your subscription and sign up for NEON instead.

And if you have a valid phone or broadband plan with Spark and can bundle NEON onto it for just $13.99/month, then, really, signing up is a no-brainer.

The best broadband

Of course, if you’re watching a lot of NEON, you’re going to need a zippy broadband connection with unlimited data. And if you’re wondering if there’s a better deal out there, perhaps there is. And this is where Canstar Blue can help.

To help you get a clearer picture of broadband providers in NZ, Canstar Blue rates all the big providers annually. We survey thousands of broadband customers and ask them to score their providers across categories including Overall Satisfaction, Value for Money and Customer Service. We then award the best broadband providers our Star Ratings and Most Satisfied Customer Award.

See Our Ratings Methodology

The table above is an abridged version of our full research, to find out more about NZ’s best broadband providers, just click on the button below.

Compare broadband providers for free with Canstar!

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Caitlin Bingham. Caitlin is an experienced writer whose passion for creativity led her to study communication and journalism. She began her career freelancing as a content writer, before joining the Canstar team.