STREAMING VIDEO – AUSTRALIA

Film industry wants local content requirements for streaming services

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: Online : 18-Sep-19

Australian actors, producers and directors are calling on the federal government to introduce local content requirements for streaming platforms such as Stan and Netflix. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has previously indicated this was something the government would consider. The screen industry is also calling for existing local content rules for free-to-air and pay television operators to be retained, while the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance notes that the industry generates around $3 billion in economic activity each year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

The new minority – the home phone connected

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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

Cups run over for sought-after sports stream

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 2-Sep-19

Kayo Sports CEO Julian Ogrin has downplayed concerns that the sports streaming service could cannibalise the subscriber base of parent company Foxtel. He says Kayo Sports is primarily targeting Australians who do not subscribe to Foxtel at present. Kayo boasted 382,000 subscribers at the end of June, including 331,000 paying customers, and Ogrin notes that subscribers viewed some 25 million hours of sports content on Kayo in the June quarter. Football fans viewed an average of 3.5 hours of content on Kayo during the period.

CORPORATES
KAYO SPORTS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, DISNEY+, ESPN INCORPORATED

Streaming subscriptions on the rise as TV ad revenue comes under pressure

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Original article by Stephanie Chalmers
abc.net au – Page: Online : 2-Sep-19

Overall television advertising revenue was down by over four per cent in 2018-19, but revenue from advertising on broadcaster video-on-demand services jumped 32 per cent. Research by Telsyte indicates that over 50 per cent of Australian households have a video-on-demand paid subscription, with 43 per cent of households having more than one subscription. New Seven West Media CEO James Warburton says the company is exploring possible streaming partnerships in the subscription video-on-demand sector.

CORPORATES
TELSYTE PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Stan’s high-stakes battle in new Disney landscape

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 23-Aug-19

Video streaming service Stan has posted earnings of $500,000 for the second half of 2018-19, although it has made a full-year loss of $21.3m. Revenue increased by 62 per cent to $157.1m, while the number of active subscribers rose by 200,000 to 1.7 million. Stan’s costs increased by 23 per cent to $178.4m, largely due to expenditure on marketing its Disney content, which it is likely to lose when the rival Disney+ streaming service is launched in Australia in late 2019.

CORPORATES
STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, FOXTEL NOW, KAYO SPORTS, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, HAYU, PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION, VIACOM INCORPORATED, SHOWTIME, CBS CORPORATION

Disney+ to launch in Australia

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Aug-19

US media giant Walt Disney Company has confirmed the Australian launch date and pricing for its video streaming service. Disney+ will cost $8.99 per month or $89.99 a year when it is launched in Australia on 19 November. Australia and New Zealand will be among the first markets in the world to gain access to Disney+, which will be launched in the US, Canada and the Netherlands on 12 November. Disney+ will include content from the Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

CORPORATES
WALT DISNEY COMPANY, DISNEY+, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, HULU LLC

Optus banks on EPL to boost subscribers

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 26 : 9-Aug-19

Optus’s sports streaming service currently boasts more than 700,000 subscribers, and the telco is optimistic that the new English Premier League season will attract more customers. Optus CEO Allen Lew notes that no EPL matches will broadcast on free-to-air networks during the new season; he adds that in addition to live streaming of all matches, Optus Sport will seek to deliver additional value to customers via its coverage of the EPL. Optus initially secured exclusive EPL rights in 2015, and its deal was renewed in 2018.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Sky pulls videos from Twitter posts but embraces new Facebook deal

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Original article by Zoe Samios, Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 5-Aug-19

Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker says it will continue to use Twitter to post breaking news stories and links to content on its website. However, Sky News will cease distributing its video content via the social media platform, after online activists edited its videos to create fake news stories. Meanwhile, its free-to-air rivals will launch exclusive news bulletins on Facebook Watch, while Sky News will produce a daily show called ‘Unpacked’, which will focus on a major news story each day.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, TWITTER INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, JUNKEE MEDIA PTY LTD, PEDESTRIAN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, TABOOLA

New Foxtel streaming to follow Kayo

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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

Local content move for digital players

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 29-Jul-19

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has signalled that streaming video providers may be required to invest in more local content in the wake of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s landmark inquiry into digital platforms. He says there is a strong case for subjecting digital platforms to the same regulations as traditional broadcasters. The ACCC’s final report noted the inconsistencies that are inherent in the current approach to media regulation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY