PAY TELEVISION – AUSTRALIA

Netflix surges beyond 11 million users in Australia

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

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that nearly 14 million Australians aged 14+ now have access to some form of Pay TV/Subscription TV, up 11.8% on a year ago. Netflix has continued to lead the growth of Subscription Video on Demand services, with over 11.2 million Australians having a Netflix subscription in their household in the three months to February 2019, up by 25.2% on a year ago. Meanwhile, Stan is now accessible by over 2.6 million Australians, up 45.2% on a year ago. YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) now has over 1.2 million users, up 31.9% on a year ago, and Fetch now has nearly 760,000 users, up by 9% on a year ago. However, the largest increase was for Amazon Prime Video, which more than doubled its user base over the last year, to over 570,000.

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

Foxtel steps up incentives to retain premium customers

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 18-Mar-19

Foxtel is offering selected customers in Queensland a free upgrade to the iQ4 set-top box, which provides access to 4K content. The offer can be redeemed at Harvey Norman stores or by calling Foxtel, and it is expected to be extended to customers in other regions. Meanwhile, some Foxtel subscribers are being offered 12 months’ free access to its movies package, which usually costs $20 per month. The initiatives are part of a strategy to target premium subscribers, who might otherwise opt to scale back their package in favour of Foxtel’s Kayo Sports streaming service.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Foxtel’s Kayo quick off the blocks

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 9-Jan-19

Foxtel’s subscriber churn rate rose to 15.6 per cent in the December quarter, compared with 12.9 per cent in the three months to September. News Corporation CEO Robert Thomson attributes the rise in customer churn to an increase in the cost of traditional Foxtel services, but he stresses that the Kayo sports streaming service is not cannibalising pay-TV customers. Thompson adds that Kayo has attracted 115,000 subscribers – including 100,000 paying customers – since its launch in November.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

UBS upbeat Foxtel is pressing right buttons on Kayo launch

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

Foxtel launched its Kayo Sports streaming video service in November, allowing consumers to access it without the need for a pay-TV subscription. UBS believes that Kayo Sports could enable Foxtel to increase its market penetration, which has remained at around 30 per cent for the last decade. The UBS analysts concede that Kayo is likely to cannibalise Foxtel’s subscriber base, but they say that this will be offset by increased revenue and gross margins as Foxtel’s overall market penetration rises.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Sky News ramps up coverage

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: Online : 21-Jan-19

The Sky News program ‘Paul Murray LIVE’ is to be broadcast from 10 regional locations in the leadup to the federal election, with the first program in the ‘Our Town, Our Show’ tour coming from Toowoomba on 20 February. Paul Whittaker, the CEO of Sky New’s parent company Australian News Channel, says the broadcasts will be an opportunity to hear the issues of importance to people living outside the big cities. As well as the Paul Murray tour, Sky News is to air new shows hosted by Chris Kenny and Peter Gleeson.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD

Governing body happy with series attendances but ODIs face uphill fight

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Original article by Jon Pierik
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 51 : 13-Nov-18

Attendances for Australia’s recent three-match one-day cricket internationals series against South Africa have been described as modest. Ratings for the matches on Fox Sports were probably only a third of what they would have been if they had been on free-to-air television. Cricket Australia is hoping for better attendances and ratings when the first of four Twenty20 internationals begin at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast on 17 November.

CORPORATES
CRICKET AUSTRALIA, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Sky’s the limit as News, Nine launch Your Money channel

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Original article by Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 21 : 24-Oct-18

Sky News and the Nine Network officially launched the new Your Money joint venture TV channel on 23 October. Your Money replaces Sky News Business on the Foxtel platform, while it has enabled Sky News owner Australian News Channel to broaden its reach beyond pay-TV. The Nine Network broadcasts Your Money on one of its digital channels, as well as its 9Now streaming service. Sky News content is also broadcast in regional areas via a separate alliance with WIN Corporation.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

Seven and News explore co-pros and marketing

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 22-Oct-18

Seven West Media and News Corp Australia have a history of co-productions and marketing initiatives, and they are looking at further projects in these areas. A spokesperson for Seven notes that the two companies have been involved in marketing initiatives in the past, while it produced "A Place Called Home" for Foxtel for four seasons. Seven and News also work together in Western Australia, where Seven prints some of News Corp’s papers. Seven CEO Tim Worner said in August that it and News Corp would seek to strengthen their commercial ties following the announcement that Nine Entertainment would merge with Fairfax Media.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

Foxtel’s critical year: News Corp has Plan B

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 15-Oct-18

News Corporation has declined to comment on suggestions that it could divest Foxtel if the pay-TV company’s financial performance does not improve. Kane Hannan of Goldman Sachs recently met with News Corp executives in the US, and he has told clients that he was left with the firm impression that the media giant may be open to selling Foxtel. The upcoming launch of Foxtel’s sports-focused streaming video service is likely to be crucial to any turnaround. Hannan expects Foxtel’s average revenue per user to fall by six per cent a year to $57 by 2022-23, compared with around $77 in 2017-18.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, AMPLIFY, MYSPACE

It’s cricket, but not as we know it

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Original article by Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 19 : 10-Oct-18

Foxtel will broadcast 97 days of cricket during the 2018-19 summer, including exclusive coverage of some matches. The Fox Cricket channel was officially launched on 9 October, and to date Foxtel has secured eight premium sponsors for its cricket coverage. CEO Patrick Delany says live coverage will be advertisement-free, and ads will only be shown during lunch and tea breaks. Foxtel currently has about 5.4 million subscribers, while data from Roy Morgan shows that about 10 million Australians now have access to a Netflix subscription.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX CRICKET CHANNEL, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED