yeah but that never worried me - if I miss out on Kayo or Binge now I’ll be annoyed! Although to be honest I use the Google TV stuff a lot more these days instead of the Fetch.
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It will be pretty ridiculous if they do end up putting Streammotion apps on there when they plan on taking off Optus Sport. Hopefully for everyone who has just got the Fetch STB direct will get both.
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BeIN doesn’t seem to be on Telstra’s website either, which is listed as Special Interest on Fetch’s website along with Optus Sport and a couple PPV providers.
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Not necessarily, if they are positioning it as an almost like-for-like replacement with the Roku-based Telstra TVs. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried things like like merging the Telstra TV Box Office with the Fetch movie store, or at least branding the latter as such and integrating the ability for Telstra customers to pay with their loyalty points for the latter (as you can do for the former, and is a big way for them to bleed them off), but only on Telstra firmware.
Although it starts raising questions on whether they could have branded it as “Telstra TV featuring Fetch”, similar to how Optus used their “‘yes’ TV” brand. But of course, Telstra don’t have to do that - although that probably shows how fragmented the Fetch branding is even now.
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That’s what I was getting at.
Goes with Optus’ excuse for why they won’t offer it anymore.
They couldn’t just say “Because Telstra owns it now”.
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I’m not sure thats a completely true reflection of events though - I had heard that Telstra’s interest may have been driven by Fetch reaching out in light of concerns that Optus may withdraw
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What I find funny is that Optus still remains as an ISP ‘reseller’ as they sell old locked boxes through their Smart Spaces division. Customers are instructed to ignore the ‘Yes TV by Fetch’ documentation that comes with the box and follow specific steps that unlocks them.
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I’ve got a Mini that I got through Optus when they launched Optus Sport (and lagged with apps) - despite walking away from the platform, they want me to pay it out in order to change my plan.
Turns out I’ve been paying $5/month for 6 years too for the device - they really take the piss sometimes
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That really is outrageous. With Telstra, they have said that they will charge the monthly fee for two years only.
I’m not sure how often this happens but something really odd happened tonight, I was watching ID channel when an ad for Lifestyle food came on and it was basically just the standard LSF ad you would typically get on Foxtel with no Foxtel package premotion what so ever. I think it was a ad for Great Australian Bake off.
Optus stopped selling Fetch to new customers about 18 months ago. Note that they are still listed as a reseller on the Fetch site through their “Smart Spaces” division, but they are selling them as retail boxes now (note the “don’t use the box instructions, instead sign up with Fetch directly” which means they’re likely using this to bleed off their old stock).
I suspect @bacco007 's recollection may be closer to the mark - certainly the ISP reseller market wouldn’t have survived with just iiNet Group + iPrimus + Aussie BB alone (and I wonder how long TPG Telecom will keep that going with iiNet, it’s the only part that actually sells TV, neither TPG itself nor Vodafone do).
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Yeah sometimes they slip through. It’s a Foxtel channel first and Fetch overlays their own ads. Sometimes they miss one.
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I can’t see how Fetch can continue with such a small line up of channels. Even with Telstra taking over I can’t imagine much extra. Would be hard to compete if the 10play app becomes the Australian home of PlutoTV.
Telstra press release
Fetch now available from Telstra
Telstra has launched streaming platform Fetch, making it easier than ever before for Telstra customers to stream, search, record and consume their favourite content, including subscription channels, free-to-air, video on demand, movies, TV shows and pay per view events.
The latest personalised features make it simple for customers to find and view what they want, when they want, with one click of a button, such as ‘universal voice search’, ‘continue watching’, ‘ways to watch’, ‘last watched’ and ‘free to me’.
Telstra customers will also enjoy added benefits, with the Telstra Plus loyalty program now integrated into the Fetch experience from Telstra.
This means Telstra Plus members can use their Telstra Plus points to pay for a wide range of content in the Fetch TV and Movie Store, and customers can also earn points on purchases and rentals. For Telstra Plus Silver and Gold members, they’ll receive a 25% and 50% discount respectively on rentals and purchases from the Fetch Store.
Kim Krogh Andersen, Telstra Group Executive, Product and Technology said that:
“Telstra’s partnership with Fetch is a big part of our T25 growth strategy, with home and entertainment a core focus area for us. We acquired a majority interest in Fetch TV last year, as an opportunity to further evolve the entertainment experience that we offer to our customers.
“The TV is often the centre of the Australian home, and we’ve always been a leader in what we offer customers in this space. For existing Telstra TV customers, they can continue to use their device into 2024. However, over the coming months, Telstra will begin to reach out to TTV customers to help them transition to the new Fetch platform.”
Together, the Fetch and Telstra TV platforms currently service circa 1.3m Australian households combined and Telstra is committed to transitioning as many TTV customers to Fetch so that they can experience the benefits of the new product.
To sweeten the deal for customers at launch, Telstra is offering three months of complementary access to the Ultimate Channel pack and Movie Box pack. Fetch’s Ultimate Channel pack includes 43 linear channels, including the likes of ESPN, BBC First, Discovery and Universal TV. While Movie Box offers 30 pre-selected movies at any time with a new one added daily.
Telstra will offer both the Fetch Mini puck and Mighty PVR devices, with the latter including a 1 TB hard drive with rich multi-channel recording functionality. Currently available to order online, the rollout to additional sales channels will commence next week. With pricing starting at $198 for the Fetch Mini outright or $8.25/month and $396 outright or $16.50/month for the Fetch Mighty, the introduction of Fetch marks a new leap for Telstra customers and home entertainment.
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Pretty much what I mentioned a week ago, haha. Old Box Office benefit for the Roku-based Telstra TVs, good to see it’ll be extended to the equivalent Fetch-via-Telstra option.
I’m not sure they will offer the option of a one-time discounted/free Fetch Mini box to loyalty members - depending on status - like they did with the Telstra TV (which at $216 was a similar price), but I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens down the track.
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For the month of September on your Fetch box, the Vibe Pack is free.
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Fetch have quietly added MTV 90s and MTV 00s to the Vibe pack, as of today.
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What does the outlook look like for Oxygen tv network? It’s just that Channel 7 seem to have the rights to almost all the content that is on there now while at the same time, channel 9 is picking up the od thing here and there. all the content on Oxygen tv network just seems to be expiring and slowly disappearing. I don’t think I’ve seen anything new pop up on there for a while.
What about Foxtel?
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About time, have they fixed the aspect ratio issue for MTV 80s?
I wonder if MTV Live will come soon as well.
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