2019 might be the official end date.
1 Like
My Foxtel was initially via cable until March 2019 when I switched over to Satellite
1 Like
I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have an image of the Optus magazine from the end of 2002 when they added Foxtel channels? Had an image of the lineup years ago and lost it, remember it being from the December 2002 issue, but Optus magazine hasn’t been archived at all, outside of the National Library
1 Like
I have the recollection that Fox Sports 1-3 [plus Fuel TV and Speed probably, as it was then, they hadn’t switched to FS4-5 yet] launched with the initial launch of Foxtel Play in 2013 - I certainly don’t remember Foxtel Play only having one FS channel - but that Sports Play as a single channel might’ve hung on a little longer on the Telstra-delivered “Mobile Foxtel” service which started a few years earlier. 2016 seems late but not entirely unplausible.
Footy Play… 2019 sounds about right. The two channels generally split based on whether they were Foxtel or Seven games (games would normally be on 503 and 504). It came under Telstra’s existing mobile rights deal that allowed streaming on/casting from 7" screens or smaller, hence why it was originally not available on Foxtel Play/Now on normal computers. Channel 503 would get the generic Foxtel blackout message on Play/Now when a game had been moved from there.
We always got the full Fox Footy channels on Kayo from the start though (willing to stand corrected as I didn’t have it the first few months?), and I think that combined with Telstra slowly giving up on mobile streaming saw an end to that. Maybe some of the renegotiations during the Covid-induced suspension in 2020 also helped make way for that.
3 Likes
I think it was labelled as Fox Sports with a Red logo, which would black out the 7 games on the channel as they were only available as event streams (with local 7 ads) until Foxtel fully bought out the Telstra streaming rights in 2021.
2 Likes
Correct, the channel feeds would black out at ball-up, with the Footy Play card.
1 Like
I think that’s when Mobile Foxtel was wound up , which still had the Sports Play channel (a combined Fox Sports 1,2,3 etc)
2 Likes
It was. You could watch the video clips and see the host talk between songs. They used real player back when it was cool and I think bigpond was one of the big advertisers.
1 Like
That’d make sense, but it also doesn’t align with my memory, as I was a Foxtel Now user before switching (in its initial season of 2019) and I noted very quickly as to how they managed to have the proper Fox Footy on Kayo, as opposed to the Footy Play/Footy Play+ switcheroo that Now had.
Telstra of course had and still have (for now) the digital rights (which had extended beyond mobile devices by the time Kayo existed, apparently - info on that is scarce and might not have been part of the original deal)… although 2019 was also the first season after the Foxtel/Fox Sports restructure, which finally gave Telstra a slice of Fox Sports itself (which they’d never had before then, it was either Packer/Murdoch or Murdoch alone), and would’ve streamlined the structure Foxtel would’ve needed for Streamotion and Kayo to even exist.
As for why Foxtel Now didn’t get the proper Fox Footy until after that… beats me; Foxtel Now had always been treated like a poor cousin at Foxtel; probably still is with all the focus on Binge and getting everyone to watch HBO content there. Of course Foxtel-over-IP (whether it be called Now or not) probably can’t be a second-class citizen now the cable network’s dead from a TV perspective.
NB: I do agree that the Live Channels tile for it did go to just a red “Fox Sports” logo [might’ve been when they added the HD logos to them, which may in turn have been when Fox Cricket started] but goodness knows why - that wasn’t the reason. The Live Channels line in the interface is a random shemozzle at the best of times (I don’t think they added the HD logo to the tiles for 506 and 507 initially, eg.) and I don’t take a lot of notice of it - which is what they prefer in any case, they don’t want you thinking about the linear channels. (Of course, that’s also the point - even if they had the Footy Play set up, they would prefer you to have picked it out of the upcoming events list, then it doesn’t really matter where it comes from…)
3 Likes
2004 Foxtel Digital news promo
4 Likes
Remember when defunct music channels have interactive services?
1 Like
Sky News Channel Promo from 2000
2 Likes
Early Sky News promo
1 Like
Well looks I just found out that David Koch was on Sky News before he was on Sunrise.
1 Like
2002
1 Like
This will rock your socks. He did both at the same time.
3 Likes
He was also on Channel 10 briefly in 1995, with his family, hosting a lifestyle show Your Money And Your Life.
He’d also been a presenter on 2GB, IIRC he was doing both the breakfast shift and the evening money/finance program
4 Likes
Huh, didn’t know Suzy Cato’s show got syndicated outside of NZ. Did it ever air on network TV or was it just exclusive to whatever Horizon was?
6 Likes
Does anyone remember the Aussie Tv show called “Dangerous” I found it on 7plus today I think it has been on there a while but it turns out that this show first aired on Fox8 back in 2007.