Real talk: This isn’t a fluff piece for Foxtel, or for NewsCorp, or for anyone that’s got any remote involvement with someone with the surname Murdoch. This is just one of those “Credit where credit’s due” kind of deals.
After months of pointing the finger at consumers as the core issue behind internet piracy, Australia’s only subscription cable TV provider Foxtel has today announced they’ll be slashing their subscription fees, largely in order to stay competitive in a marketplace that’s about to become flooded with paid online streaming services like Netflix.
Though Netflix is yet to actually “officially” launch in Australia, studies have found the service to already be the second most popular form of paid media-content delivery in the country; and any official launch would surely see that percentage spike once again.
Accordingly, Foxtel has today announced that their basic cable package price point will be slashed down to $25 per month, at the same time it’s launching a new on-demand channel called BoxSets for both its pay TV and digital users.
The new subscription price point applies to the entry level package that Foxtel offers, which includes 40 channels such as Fox8, Discovery, MTV and others. Additional service packages such as sport (featuring Fox Footy, Fox Sports and ESPN), premium drama (including Showcase, BBC and FX) and the movie channels will still incur costs on top of the initial $25 – for customers wanting to watch sport, the minimum price per month remains $50.
The real interesting factor here is the BoxSets channel, available for an additional $10 on top of the minimum monthly subscription. The channel features on-demand viewing of entire seasons of popular shows such as Game of Thrones, The Newsroom, Entourage or The Simpsons, and will be available on both TV and through the mobile service Foxtel Go, though it appears for the time being it won’t be available on the online service Foxtel Play.
Foxtel’s cheif executive Richard Freudenstein (that cannot be a real name) stated, “We recognise that many Australians feel that Foxtel is too expensive to fit comfortably into their budget. They know that we offer fantastic content but they just don’t feel they can stretch their finances to afford it.“
So when you couple this move with the slashing of their Netflix-like streaming service Presto down to $10 a month, Foxtel seems to finally be on the right track towards being able to survive in a marketplace that has Netflix in it.
But is it enough to convince people who otherwise wouldn’t be customers to sign up? Does it make you more likely to get cable TV at home? Do you trust the new word of Foxtel after they previously blamed consumers for their woes?
The best part about all of this, being paying consumers, is that you really do get to be the judge.
via SMH.
