What election issue? Foxtel ‘welcomes broadband.’
Foxtel talks up the positives amid a debate about whether Rupert Murdoch is against the NBN because it's a threat to Foxtel.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Election, Subscription
Foxtel has issued a statement on the expansion of broadband across Australia, following recent commentary that News Corporation chairman was against the Rudd government and the NBN because it represented a threat to Foxtel.
“Foxtel welcomes the deployment of broadband networks in Australia,” it said in a statement.
“Better broadband will improve Foxtel’s ability to reach new customers and offer new services.
“There is currently good quality broadband through much of Australia.
“Today’s broadband supports products such as Foxtel Go (Foxtel’s mobile offering) and Foxtel Play (Foxtel’s internet protocol television (IPTV) product).”
The statement follows an article by Sydney Morning Herald columnist Paul Sheehan in which he wrote,
“Why Murdoch wants Rudd to lose the coming federal election is not merely political, it is commercial. News Corp hates the government’s national broadband network. The company has formed a view that it poses a threat to the business model of by far its most important asset in Australia, the Foxtel cable TV monopoly it jointly owns with Telstra.”
The next day the Daily Telegraph had a headline to “Kick This Mob Out”, itself a talking point by last night’s Media Watch.
The Sheehan article was rebuked by Opposition Spokesperson on Communications Malcolm Turnbull.
“Articles in competitor publications that suggest otherwise are complete nonsense, up there with sightings of Elvis. Foxtel faces competition with or without the government’s NBN,” he said. “Foxtel . . . continues to invest and innovate, and launch new products offering consumers expanded choice and control over what they watch.”
Kevin Rudd also weighed in by saying Murdoch was “entitled to those views, and I’m sure he can see them with crystal clear clarity all the way from the United States.”
Foxtel has carefully sought to talk up its positives, which is its Foxtel Go and Foxtel Play internet products (all without any mention of its recent opposition to the lifting of geoblocking).
“Even without government intervention, these networks would have developed and expanded. If government action improves in the reach and quality of broadband networks, or ensures that they are deployed more quickly, Foxtel will benefit by being able to offer products such as Go and Play to more Australians,” it said.
“Of course improved broadband increases the opportunities for new entrants and competitors. Foxtel has always anticipated that this would happen. In fact Foxtel already faces competition from many old and new entrants to the media and communications market.
“Just as Foxtel created competition for the incumbent free to air broadcasters and redefined the television market in Australia, broadband delivery will, overtime, further reshape the media in ways that will be beneficial to consumers.
“Foxtel is confident that the quality of its content, technology and brand will ensure that it will continue to be a market leader in the delivery of video services.
“The company will not comment further on this issue.”
Readers can currently vote on the importance of an NBN rollout in the TV Tonight Audience Inventory.
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8 Responses
.i couldnt stop laughing wheni read is foxtel and murdoch love the NBN what aload of rubbish who di they ink they are folling. The NBN will be great for all australians except foxtel. Murdoch hates the labour government because the NBN will bring competition to foxtel and thats one thing foxtel does not like is competition. Remember when their were three pay tv operators now we have one.foxtel is one big dinosour swallows every competitor in sight . The NBN scares the hell out of murdoch and foxtel and rightly so.
@Bazza – I think he meant to say Austria.
It’s an easy mistake to make, as anyone who’s seen Dumb & Dumber can attest to.
The NBN will be a great thing for Media in general providingthey know how to harnice it properly. The FTA networks could offer their content online therefore providing more flexibilty for their viewers. They could program ads similar to what you tube does. Or if people dont like ads then they wont mind paying for the content to get it ad free. With the CBS back catelogue that TEN has for example they could offer more classic CBS content on 11’s website and therefore give more choice either for free (ads) or for a fee. I can understand why FOXtel dont want the NBN to be successful, but i can see when the Coalition get into power that they will sell the NBN or privatise it and therefore i wouldnt be suprosied to see Telstra own it i the future of Optus. Telstra owns 50 percent of Foxtel so in that way the NBN could be a good thing, as i said ealier its how its harnised and to some extent…
“There is currently good quality broadband through much of Australia.”
Where is this other Australia, of which they clearly speak?
Funny how Foxtel says that it “… welcomes the deployment of broadband networks in Australia” but studiously avoids mentioning the NBN by name anywhere in its rhetoric.
It’s not just Foxtel that will possibly have a more difficult time if most Australians could access 12Mbps+ connections. The NBN is a direct threat to Murdoch’s newspaper empire. It’s little wonder he’s so blatant about trying to get rid of Labor even tho’ he is no longer a citizen and hasn’t lived here for years.
“There is currently good quality broadband through much of Australia.”
“Much”, being quite different to “most”. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands still have to rely on expensive, slow, low-quota wireless as either Telstra can’t provide a connection, or the Telstra system is so far behind it can’t provide Internet facilities to meet the demand.
I subscribe to Quickflix but can’t watch many of their offerings as they are only available via “play”, so have to order and wait for DVDs by post. And I live in suburban Wollongong.
Rupert will do anything, even changing his citizenship, in the interests of his empire.
“There is currently good quality broadband through much of Australia.”
That’s exactly what Malcolm Turnbull says every time he tries and tells us why delivering broadband down copper cables is a good idea.
If we had good Broadband in Australia, then we wouldn’t need the NBN or Telstra’s ducts wouldn’t be full of asbestos – a sure sign that they haven’t upgraded a lot of their infrastructure for years if not decades.
My uncle who recently retired from Telstra after working for them for 40 years, told me they stopped lining the ducts with asbestos in the early 80s.
I’d like to see Jaymes Diaz explain Rupert Murdoch’s … I mean the LNP’s …policy on broadband.
But will Rupert allow Jaymes to appear on TV ever again?
Of course – the Bolt Report!