PAY TELEVISION – AUSTRALIA

AFL fans expected to fork out as Saturday live coverage goes behind paywall in 2025

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Original article by Jack Snape
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Feb-25

Foxtel and its Kayo Sports streaming service will have exclusive live broadcasts of AFL matches on Saturdays in Victoria and Tasmania during the 2025 season. The live and exclusive coverage will also apply to the first eight rounds of the home-and-away season in other states, under the new $4.5bn broadcasting rights deal between the AFL, Foxtel and the Seven Network that began this year. Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany is confident that fans will be willing to pay to watch live coverage of AFL matches.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Foxtel, NRL, AFL face US privacy suit

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 21-Aug-24

Pay-TV group Foxtel has been accused of breaching the US Video Privacy Protection Act by using Meta’s tracking pixel to send targeted advertising to people outside of Australia who subscribe to its streaming video services. The AFL and the NRL have also been named as defendents in two separate class actions, which are being heard by the US District Court of California. The class actions centre on allegations that the Watch AFL and Watch NRL websites use the tracking pixels to send data to Facebook about the content the user is watching, even if they are not logged into the social media site.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES

Why this could be Murdoch’s last chance to sell Foxtel

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Foxtel had been estimated to be worth between $1.2bn and $2bn when an IPO was being considered in 2021. However, an IPO now appears to be highly unlikely, and selling Foxtel may be the best option for News Corp and Telstra. Foxtel’s traditional pay-TV business now boasts about 1.2 million subscribers, well below the peak of 2.9 million in 2015; retaining as many of these customers as possible could be crucial to getting a decent price for Foxtel, given that they pay an average of $90 per month. Foxtel’s own streaming services Kayo and Binge have much lower monthly revenue per customer, and their subscriber growth is also slowing amid growing competition in the streaming sector.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, KAYO SPORTS, BINGE

Why Foxtel faces its streaming apocalypse

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 26-Apr-24

Foxtel boasted annual earnings of nearly $1bn a decade ago, when nearly one in every three households had a pay-TV subscription. However, Foxtel has been hard hit by competition from subscription video-on-demand services. Analysts expect Foxtel’s earnings to fall to about $390m in the 2026 financial year, while its own streaming platforms will lose key HBO content if Warner Bros Discovery proceeds with plans to launch its own SVOD service in Australia. Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany says the company is now essentially two separate businesses, focused on streaming and its legacy pay-TV operations. Foxtel’s 3.1 million SVOD users account for 66 per cent of its customer base, but just 23 per cent of group revenue; in contrast, its 1.5 million pay-TV customers contribute 63 per cent of revenue.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Free-to-air TV beats streaming giants for events

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Original article by Zoe Samios, Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 29-Nov-23

The federal government will shortly introduce a bill giving effect to its ‘prominence’ framework for local broadcasters. The legislation will require manufactures of smart TVs to prominently display the channels and apps of free-to-air networks on their interfaces. Streaming companies often pay to have their apps appear in prime positions on connected TV interfaces. The legislation will also include changes to the anti-siphoning rules for major sports events, with free-to-air networks to be given priority in discussions regarding broadcast deals. The government also intends to add women’s sports and para-sports to the anti-siphoning list.

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Sports would be nuts to risk walking away: Foxtel CEO

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Original article by Max Mason, Mark Di Stefano
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 19 : 10-Aug-22

News Corporation has posted revenue of $US10.4bn for 2021-22, an increase of 11 per cent, while EBITDA rose 31 per cent to $US1.67bn. The Dow Jones financial news division’s EBITDA was up 30 per cent at $US433m, while the real estate services division’s EBITA rose 12 per cent to $US574m. News Corp Australia contributed $US109m to the media giant’s growth in profitability, while Foxtel’s total subscriber base rose to 4.5 million. Foxtel will seek to renew its AFL broadcasting rights deal, and CEO Patrick Delany says factors such as its audience reach and capacity to pay means that sporting bodies should not risk shifting their broadcasting rights to another company.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Foxtel expands offer in ViacomCBS deal

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 15 : 22-Oct-21

Pay-TV group Foxtel has secured a new multi-year content deal with US media company ViacomCBS, the parent company of the Ten Network. Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany says the deal to extend its long-standing relationship with ViacomCBS will provide customers with access to a much bigger range of content. The deal includes channels such as Nickelodeon and MTV, and the integration of the Paramount+ and 10 Play apps into Foxtel’s iQ3, iQ4 and iQ5 set-top boxes.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, VIACOMCBS INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Foxtel on track to top 5m subscribers

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 1-Oct-21

Pay-TV and streaming group Foxtel currently boasts more than four million customers, and CEO Patrick Delany has told the inaugural strategy day that it aims to lift this to five million within three years. Foxtel will also target annual revenue of $3bn. Delany noted that Foxtel has been transformed from a one-product company several years ago to one with multiple revenue streams as its focus has shifted from traditional linear broadcasting to subscription video-on-demand. Some 53 per cent of Foxtel’s customers now subscribe to one of its streaming services, compared with eight per cent in 2016. Delany also said that the question of an IPO is a matter for Foxtel’s shareholders.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Wuhan doco a winner for Sky

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 22-Sep-21

Data from OzTAM shows that a Sky News documentary on the origins of COVID-19 attracted 160,000 viewers, making it the pay-TV channel’s highest-rating program so far in 2021. ‘What Really Happened in Wuhan’ was also watched by 100,000 regional viewers on the free-to-air Sky News Regional channel. Former US president Donald Trump and ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo are among the people who were interviewed by investigative journalist Sharri Markson.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS

Telstra CEO Andy Penn would support a Foxtel IPO

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Original article by David Swan, James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 17-Sep-21

Telstra CEO Andy Penn says the telco would retain its stake in Foxtel should the pay-TV and streaming group pursue a sharemarket float. He regards Telstra as a long-term investor in Foxtel, but concedes that its 35 per cent would most likely be diluted via an IPO. Penn adds that Telstra would be open to an IPO if it provided more opportunities for Foxtel in the future. He also says Foxtel’s focus on digitisation has allowed it to meet the challenges presented by streaming rivals such as Netflix.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED