Just a couple of reasons I’m keeping Foxtel
Same here. I have satellite as well which can access live TV if internet is down
I think Foxtel satellite is safe for another 10-15 years at the very least.
I suspect from a global perspective we’ll see European pay TV providers lead the way in phasing out satellite in favour of IP delivery only either in the late 2020s or early 2030s.
By then I would hope and expect that IP delivered video is truly indistingiushable from Satellite, with internet connections being much more reliable and with instant failovers in place such as 4G/5G when a fixed line connection goes down, as well as improvements in latency to bring the video delay down to near the same level at satellite.
It might seem a stretch now but look at how much has changed in the past 15 years, the streaming world of today still seemed like a pipe dream back around 2008.
My point is mainly to do with them not taking back the older model STB’s? My point is how would they stop people from creating there own counterfeit smartcards and using them when the STB’s aren’t being taken back.
What do you think about Foxtel Now then, assuming they eventually get rid of satellite but keep Foxtel proper as streaming/on demand platform only, with I assume the same high prices? I personally couldn’t see it working, as surely a lot of Foxtel broadcast’s audience is Over 65s and they traditionally (majority) struggle with any streaming, especially the older you go, not trying to sound ageist BTW.
I think Foxtel Now will sit as a sort of ‘in-between’ product, with the iQ box or it’s successor being the main ‘premium’ Foxtel service and Kayo/Binge/Flash as dedicated streaming services.
Foxtel Now will have it’s point of difference being that it is directly accessible on Smart TVs, Chromecast, Playstation, Xbox etc. without the need for a dedicated box. Adding a cloud PVR service (say with 100 hours for free and an extra $5 or so a month for an extra 200-300 hours or so) would also be something I’d recommend in order to add value to that service.
As far as older and/or less tech-minded users go, with the iQ box now able to work with either an internet connection or satellite, the end user experience should be indistingiushable if and when satellite is eventually closed down.
One issue I can forsee is there will be a small minority of Foxtel subscribers without home internet connections, in these cases I would expect that Foxtel in time will be able to provide service through the NBN and/or 5G infrastructure with the connection restricted to Foxtel services only.
If we had a full-fibre NBN, there would’ve been no need for a satellite dish installed on the roof of your house with everything delivered through NBN fibre.
You’re never going to have a situation where we have full-fibre NBN to every house though - even in overseas markets with higher availability of fibre to the home, there are still currently satellite subscription operators (albeit they’re effectively legacy operations that existed prior to widespread fibre availability)
The comms world is moving to satellite investment and away from fibre. We’ll all have our internet through satellite before too long.
The Foxtel Group and Walter Presents today announced a new multi-year partnership to supply Foxtel Group with more than 500 hours of premium, first-run and exclusive international drama programming to be made available to watch On Demand on Foxtel and stream on BINGE.
As the leading video-on-demand service in the United Kingdom for foreign language drama and comedies with English subtitles, Walter Presents boasts a strong slate of international drama including new titles never before made available to Australian audiences.
Through this partnership, Foxtel Group subscribers can look forward to a curation of the finest of international television including exclusive series: Girlsquad (France), The Drought (Spain), Spiral of Lies (Belgium), New Nurses (Denmark), Thou Shalt Not Kill (Italy) and Honour (Sweden). The deal also offers Foxtel Group exclusive use of the Walter Presents brand and on-platform promotion of the featured series including introductions from Co-Founder and Curator Walter Iuzzolino.
Foxtel Group Executive Director of Entertainment, Marshall Heald, said: “The new agreement with Walter Presents will offer our millions of subscribers across Foxtel and BINGE first-run, exclusive access to premium international drama. We are constantly looking for new ways to expand our content offering – and this new international drama slate will offer series and films that have never been available in Australia until now.”
Walter Iuzzolino, Co-Founder and Curator of Walter Presents, said: “In my role dual role as producer of original English language drama and curator of premium international series I always relish the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded partners such as the Foxtel Group whose taste palette is aligned with ours.”
“Two years ago, we partnered with the Foxtel Group on our smash hit English language series Hotel Portofino, and I am absolutely delighted to be building on that by expanding our partnership to encompass a wealth of fantastic international scripted dramas curated under the Walter Presents label which audiences will be able to enjoy on an exclusive basis for years to come through Foxtel and BINGE.”
International drama programming from Walter Presents will be available to watch On Demand on Foxtel and stream on BINGE from March 24.
Don’t forget that Foxtel will be launching their own TVs through Sky Glass.
still no indication when MSNBC will start - although its listed in the channel list in April’s guide
Yep and if you think MSNBC’s international feed ad breaks are repetitive, you have no idea - NBC News Now’s breaks are absolutely ridiculous with the amount of repetitiveness.
Watching on Fetch and during commercial breaks they show the same thing.
Foxtel misrepresenting their numbers to advertisers is pretty bad to be honest. Not to mention perhaps gaining rights to sports on perceived reach rather than actual.
What, Murdoch media telling porkies about their readership and viewership? Never heard such a thing before.
Always amazing that these stories see daylight after the major sporting codes have signed with the organisation.
for me:
I’m actully really interested in this. My wife wants to wall mount our current TV (but its only 43" so the cost to get someone out to wallmount would be more than the TV is worth). I’m waiting to see what they do with FoxGlass (or whatever they call it) - I’m interested in the 65" which if we get will be wall mounted
Bad, but not unexpected.
It is such an incompetent organisation. In fact it sounds like something that Foxtel would do 
I’m led to believe this has been a festering issue for some time - especially since Foxtel has been able to gather allegedly better internal numbers to identify the numbers of boxes/subscriptions showing content (but it doesn’t necessarily give you a viewer number).