0/5

Foxtel 2015 highlights: iQ3, Deadline Gallipoli, Banished, Gogglebox.

Pay TV stars turn in force as Foxtel spruiks its technology and content highlights for 2015.

imageSubscription TV stars from Wentworth, Selling Houses Australia, Australia’s Next Top Model, Real Housewives, Deadline Gallipoli and A Place to Call Home were out in force tonight for Foxtel-MCN 2015 Upfronts at the Sydney Theatre.

High on the list were the launch of iQ3 and the ‘triple play’ offering of bundled TV, broadband and home phone plus the previously-announced Box Sets channel.

On the content front were A Place to Call Home, the joint commissioning of Gogglebox with Network TEN, Deadline Gallipoli, The Kettering Incident, Banished, The Knick, Olive Kitteridge, The Flash, Jane the Virgin and a local version of Pawn Stars.

Returning titles include Wentworth, Selling Houses Australia, Grand Designs Australia, River Cottage Australia, Game of Thrones, Veep, Girls, The Leftovers, True Detective, Ray Donovan, Outlander, Mad Men, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise and New Tricks.

The Comedy Channel is also getting a new 20 episode comedy project from Rick McKenna and Laura Waters and is in development on Pacific Heat, a new Australian animated series set to be Australia’s first prime time adult animation produced by Working Dog (NB: it’s not clear if it will air in 2015).

Foxtel Chief Executive Richard Freudenstein said, “2014 has been our busiest year ever. We have been working incredibly hard to put all of the pieces in place to bring Foxtel to the widest audience possible and starting in November, we are poised to kick off a new era in growth. We’re particularly excited to launch our new pricing and packaging, which will see our existing customers getting even more value than ever from their subscriptions at no extra change while giving the many Australians who have not previously considered Foxtel a great reason to take another look.

“People love to binge watch and people love to see great content in brilliant HD, so we’ve made a big effort to meet those demands head on with our new BoxSets channel as well as boosting our already great HD offering.”

A Place to Call Home will have two seasons, with Foxtel to replay Seasons 1 and 2 including with an alternative ending.

Foxtel Executive Director of Television, Brian Walsh said, “Inspiring story telling is what Foxtel is about and A Place to Call Home is Australia’s most loved drama series that has captured the hearts of millions of fans across the country. We are proud to partner with the Seven Network on this landmark deal and ensure that audiences can continue to enjoy this beautifully crafted and elegantly produced series.”

Gogglebox will screen on Foxtel’s LifeStyle Channel and captures the reactions of ordinary Australians as they watch the evening news, debate over politics, cheer their favourite contestants and digest current affairs and documentaries.

“Gogglebox is like nothing else ever seen on Australian television, it is a true game changer that is set to hook audiences in a fun and entertaining way and we can’t wait to see your reaction when we share it in 2015,” said Walsh.

“We’re thrilled to continue bringing our viewers new and award winning programming that Foxtel is known for, whether it’s Game of Thrones, True Detective, Top Gear, Gogglebox, Call the Midwife, Real Housewives, Sky News or Fox Footy, these are the must-have brands and Foxtel is where to find them.”

Returning to The LifeStyle Channel next year will be the hugely popular Selling Houses Australia for its eighth season, the fifth season of Grand Designs Australia, and the third season River Cottage Australia. Foxtel also strengthened its offering of the best in drama by extending its exclusive output agreement with HBO. The deal sees Foxtel offering exclusive access to all first run programs by HBO as well as Anytime (On Demand) access to complete seasons of library drama and complete past seasons of returning drama series. The deal ensure showcase, the Home of HBO, will continue to feature new seasons of popular shows like Game of Thrones, Veep, Girls, The Leftovers and a brand new season of True Detective starring Vince Vaughan and Colin Farrell. Other new HBO series coming to Foxtel include The Knick, a new drama starring Clive Owen and Olive Kitteridge, a four-part miniseries starring Frances McDormand and Bill Murray.

The event also saw Foxtel confirm a line-up of programming for 2015 headlined by more world class drama and locally produced TV series. Marquee titles that will spearhead Foxtel’s Australian drama include Deadline Gallipoli, starring and executive produced by Sam Worthington. The compelling four hour miniseries captures the heartache and futility of war as seen through the eyes of the journalists who reported it; The Kettering Incident, a gripping eight episode mystery thriller with otherworldly overtones based in small town Tasmania starring Elizabeth Debicki and Matthew Le Nevez; and the break-through prison drama, Wentworth will return for a third season.

From Foxtel’s brand new channel, BBC First, comes locally produced Banished, starring David Wenham as Captain Arthur Phillip, in an epic drama about Australia’s first convict settlers. Joining Banished is the iconic BBC drama Call the Midwife, a huge worldwide hit, along with Death in Paradise and the twelfth season of the widely popular New Tricks.

Foxtel’s showcase and SoHo channels will premiere steamy love story, The Affair along with other popular series returning in 2015 including internationally acclaimed Orange is the New Black, Outlander, Ray Donovan, Black Sails and the final season of Mad Men.

Kicking off FOX8’s summer line up are two new US hit programs including super hero adventure, The Flash and the funny uplifting new series, Jane the Virgin.

Adventure and stories of the human spirit will feature strongly in The Raft, Remote Survival and The Watch (National Geographic); while Shark Week and Bear Grylls will continue to amaze viewers on Discovery.

Joining Discovery is the brand new Discovery Kids, featuring inspiring, family oriented and educational programming; while the kids and family channels, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network will continue to offer great family entertainment.

A&E will debut a local version of the international hit Pawn Stars, a highly entertaining series featuring a remarkable Australian trio of pawn experts who have spent the last 20 years buying and selling hidden treasures.

Foxtel will continue to provide the best in music video entertainment with its eight dedicated channels across the Channel [V], MTV, MAX, Smooth, and CMC brands.

6 Responses

  1. The strength and diversity of Foxtel’s local content commissioning makes you realise how tired and derivative much of the FTAs offerings are. The APTCH pickup highlights the fact that Seven drama seems to lack clear direction and focus. What’s good business about letting a much-loved brand (that you developed and took all the risk on) simply go to a competitor?

  2. So When is IQ3 going to be available? They said end 2014 and theres not long left. I have to say Richard Freudenstein seems to be a lot better than Kim Williams for getting things done. Action speaks louder than words, that what I always say. Kim was all talk, no action.

Leave a Reply