If this is the by product of purchasing austar then there accounts/advisers need to be shot.

The 100pm I pay foxtel will go to the isp and iptv providers who are give me the content I want when needed.

My XBMC system, with PVR configured for commercial detection and skipping, I never need to see any more advertising, if (rarely) watching something broadcast on commercial FTA. However, with all the content available on Usenet and free content produced by companies such as Revision3, I have little time left to watch Foxtel or FTA.

For many years Foxtel has taken it’s audience for granted, continually increasing prices and constantly blasting out advertising and self promotion. The audience now has a much wider choice of alternatives and Foxtel will need to start providng some value if it plans to remain a viable player in the market.

that and they have just as many adverts as free to air.. seems pointless to pay if they do that..

I don’t think anybody believes Foxtel is going to disappear entirely. But it will become increasingly more and more Sports oriented. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but with FTA shows being offered over IPTV and Video on Demand becoming more prevalent (of which the NBN will massively accelerate the market share due to reliable connectivity for at LEAST 97% of the country) Foxtel’s other “offerings” are becoming outdated. THIS is what Paul Budde is saying. They’re not a particularly sports oriented family and so Foxtel is not much use to them.

Certainly there are millions of families who are, but Foxtel’s scope is being diminished, if not its’ importance, by the NBN and the VOD and IPTV applications therein.

Welcome to the world of digital media rights. It costs broadcasters money. Lots of it.

For all the haters who didn’t experience Foxtel’s Olympics app you’re really missing out on an incredible user experience and I believe the future of connected multi-device television. I’m talking what you want, when you want, whatever device you want, ad free, and pre-tagged into ‘chapters’ where you could click a button and immediately watch the last 15 seconds of a swimming medal. I’m no techie but I could immediately tell there was no ‘lag’ waiting for it to buffer and the stream was as good as DVD quality within about 6 seconds (I think it’s called HLS, either way it was amazing).

The NBN isn’t the answer to more content being available for free. Content is king and when it’s tied up in existing rights deals it’s not like the NBN can start bidding for content. Sure the cost of delivery goes down, but one could argue that means there’s more profit so the content rights holders will be looking for a larger share. AFL and NRL just negotiated deals worth over $1bn each.

For clarity I don’t work for Foxtel but I do have 2 x IQ2 at home (primarily for sport as the author mentioned is the main reason – as I’m massive EPL/A-League fan – but another upstairs for my wife to watch while I’m watching football).

I have NetFlix up and running on my AppleTV and Xbox360′s which I quite enjoy and would consider using Quickflix if they can get the content, device support and value proposition right (so far they havent).

Foxtel, who owns the NBA rights in this country, plays 2 or 3 games a week via ESPN, meaning i’d need to sign up to a base package + premium sports just to get access to it. While the online NBA streaming service isn’t cheap it’s by far cheaper than getting Foxtel….

I agree with the previous posters – Foxtel needs to adapt to survive. They have a monopoly with so much of the content in Australia – if they simply started charging per channel with no minimum subscriptions delivered via IP i’d probably sign up for a few channels (even with the ads). R

Apple, Netflix, et-all are getting well into consumer product to make that a simple point-and-click model – the issue has always been getting data to the end user, in a capacity constrained market (like here, NZ, and so forth).

However the NBN will see a fairly rapid change to how video can be delivered (both in quality and quantity).

.. which in turn will put pressure on Foxtel (and more importantly it’s suppliers) to change business models, as many established (and new) players hit the market with services that will rival, and quite probably exceed.

Probably one the single biggest advantages of the NBN is for it’s potential to shake-up the motion picture and music industries. Adapt, or die.

Foxtel has been way to slow to learn and adapt from The Internet/iView/SBS Digital/Piracy.

I hope the company burns a nasty death with shareholders waving pitchforks and torches braying for blood.

*seriously disaffected ex-foxtel user*