Foxtel fortified by $1.6bn debt deal

November 25, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 24 : 25-Nov-19

Pay-TV group Foxtel has completed a deal to refinance some $US1.1bn ($1.6bn) worth of debt. It is said to include a $US900m debt facility with a syndicate of commercial banks. The deal comes as Foxtel seeks to increase its presence in the subscription video-on-demand market with the launch of a drama-focused streaming service in 2020. It will complement Kayo Sports, which now boasts some 443,000 subscribers and recently won the SportsPro OTT Award for the best user experience.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, HANA FINANCIAL GROUP INCORPORATED, DISNEY+, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Foxtel customers get the loyal treatment

October 30, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 30-Oct-19

Subscribers who sign up to Foxtel’s new customer loyalty program will receive a range of exclusive offers. The Foxtel First loyalty scheme will reward customers based on the length of time they have been a subscriber. The launch of the customer loyalty program comes ahead of the impending entry of Disney+ and Apple TV+ into Australia’s streaming video market, where they will compete with established players such as Foxtel, Netflix and Stan.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, DISNEY+, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, APPLE INCORPORATED, FOXTEL NOW, KAYO SPORTS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD

Foxtel, NBCU close to TV, streaming deal

October 28, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 28-Oct-19

Foxtel is believed to be aiming to launch its new drama and entertainment streaming video service in March or April 2020. Foxtel is said to be close to finalising a new content agreement with US media giant NBCUniversal for both its broadcast and streaming video-on-demand services, after recently striking a new content deal with the BBC. The new subscription video-on-demand service will target consumers who want access to Foxtel content but do not want a pay-TV subscription.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NBC UNIVERSAL INCORPORATED, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, KAYO SPORTS, FETCHTV PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, APPLE INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Streaming wars: Disney strips content from Foxtel

October 7, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Oct-19

Pay-TV group Foxtel will revamp its movie channels package in response to the loss of content from the Walt Disney Company. Foxtel’s existing Disney Movie Channel will cease broadcasting on 7 November, ahead of the launch of the Disney+ subscription video-on-demand service on 19 November. The Disney and Disney Jnr channels will remain on Foxtel until at least the end of February. Meanwhile, Foxtel plans to launch its own drama and entertainment streaming service, while Stan owner Nine Entertainment is said to be in talks with Disney regarding a content deal.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Australians tune in to Google Chromecast as their digital TV service of choice

October 7, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Oct-19

New data from Roy Morgan shows that 12.1% of Australians aged 14+ owned a Google Chromecast as at June 2019. This was followed by Apple TV (9.4%), Foxtel Now box (7.7%), Telstra TV (6.7%), Fetch Mighty/Mini (5.5%) and other digital television services (4.5%). Google Chromecast has experienced the largest percentage increase over the past three years (+6.8%), followed by Telstra TV (+4.9%), Apple TV (+0.8%) and Foxtel Now box (+0.7% since July 2018). These findings come from the comprehensive Roy Morgan Single Source survey, gathered via in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, FOXTEL NOW, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, FETCHTV PTY LTD

A Foxtel IPO still the goal for News Corp

September 13, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 13-Sep-19

News Corp global chief financial officer Susan Panuccio says the media company remains committed to spinning off Foxtel over the long term. News Corp owns 65 per cent of the pay television operator, with the remaining 35 per cent owned by Telstra. Foxtel has 2.4 million residential and commercial subscribers, with its residential customers had an average revenue per user of $78 as of the end of June. News Corp has indicated it sees Foxtel’s future growth coming from streaming rather than broadcasting.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

The new minority – the home phone connected

September 3, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Sep-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 66.5% of Australians had access to subscription/pay TV services at home in June 2019, compared with 61.6% in June 2018 and just 29.1% in June 2015. Driving the increase has been the huge take-up of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service Netflix, which is now accessible by around 11.5 million Australians. In total, 57.1% of Australians now have access to SVOD services (including Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime. Only four years ago less than 2% of Australians had SVOD. The incredibly fast take-up of these new technologies, and the almost ubiquitous usage of mobile phones (now used by 95.9% of Australians), has accelerated the decline in home phones. Now 48.6% of the population have a home phone connected, down 9.5% points from a year ago. Over 96% of Australians had a home phone connection in 2001. These findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey are derived from in-depth face-to-face personal interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

ABC seeks to put more content on Foxtel

August 26, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 26-Aug-19

About 14.5 per cent of Australian households in metropolitan areas and nine per cent in regional areas view the ABC via Foxtel at present. The ABC’s board recently agreed to review its retransmission deal with the pay-TV group, which costs $4m a year. Union representatives are amongst those who have expressed concern about the arrangement, although it is expected to be renewed. However, there is speculation that the ABC will shift some of its content from Foxtel to its own platforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

New Foxtel streaming to follow Kayo

August 1, 2019roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 1-Aug-19

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany continues to downplay speculation that the pay-TV group intends to launch a non-sports streaming video service. Kayo Sports has been a huge success since its launch in November 2018, with 209,000 paying subscribers in early May. Delany says Foxtel is continuing to look at streaming options for its non-sport content; the mooted drama and entertainment streaming service is known internally as ‘Project Jupiter’.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

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