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Report: Foxtel-Austar merge set to be approved

Foxtel's $1.9 billion merger with Austar looks set to be approved today.

The Australian is reporting that Foxtel’s $1.9 billion pay-television merger with Austar will be approved today.

The approval comes with some 19 pages of detail that pay-TV companies have agreed to allow some content for ISPs to deliver via the web, including movies and lifestyle programming.

Pay-TV sports channels ESPN, Setanta and Sky Racing will reportedly be made available to ISPs.

The undertakings will be subjected to market comment over the next couple of weeks.

11 Responses

  1. I know how MyStar work with FTA channels, but I don’t have one here. I’ve hear bad reports about them not working properly and don’t want to pay extra each month for a PVR which I’ll fill in no time and have to delete shows before I watch them. Right now with my LG I can record show to DVD if I don’t have time to watch them or I want to save them for later.

    I know if/when this goes through it will be more than a few weeks for changes to take effect I just hope in inequality ends and we can get the same channels as Foxtel at the same price in the future.

  2. Craig how could you put a Foxtel IQ in an Austar area seeing it gets the FTA channels off Satellite and only has Metro?
    The Mystar units use your aerial to tune into the regional networks in your area.

  3. @Josh777

    Just a minor correction there. Broadcast or cable television is never shown in 1080p, anywhere in the world as a matter of fact. The amount of bandwidth and new facilities that need to be built in order to show television over a line or radio signal like that is astronomical.

    Foxtel high-definition is shown in 1080i. Technically the same amount of pixels clarity but it’s main drawback is when stuff is in motion where you will see a judder effect or more blocking. Also quality is dropped a fair bit simply due to the fact that it’s outputting a television signal from miles away. It’s still of tremendous superior quality to what is shown on FTA.

    1080i and 720p kind of balance each other out because the latter works better in motion for things such as sport. They are just as good as each other but 1080p is considerably better to the purists eyes on the somewhat trite matter 😛

    Nonetheless you can only get 1080p on Blu-Ray discs for 99% of shows/films and a rare 1% of videogames output their picture in this standard because of the processing required to do so. 0% of television anywhere is shown in 1080p though.

  4. @ Craig – with Foxtel taking over it would mean that all the channels and services that are currently only offered to Foxtel subscribers would be available to all pay-TV subscribers. These include more channels (Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, Foxtel 3D, etc.) and services (Series Link, Foxtel On Demand, Foxtel STB’s, etc.). Once Foxtel fully takes over then yes your STB would be replaced, but it would be some time as they would need to manufacture hundreds of thousands.
    @ Bazza – well if you’re not paying for it then you must be using “other means” to access the shows/programming as if it is not on FTA then you are missing out on a lot. By paying for Foxtel/Austar you get to see hundreds of hours of exclusive content (both overseas and domestic) and in 1080p HD (unlike U.S. programming which is mainly shown in 720p).
    @ David – afr.com/p/business/companies/one_step_forward_for_foxtel_austar_cwIFyC3vn4Yg70Gs98ItdL
    According to this link, the ACCC have said their decision will be released on the 29th of March (1 day before the Austar shareholder meeting which was delayed last month by Austar due to the ACCC decision not being released). Today the ACCC said they will be conducting marketing research on the impact the merger will have on current and future competition (accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1037644/fromItemId/142)

  5. accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1037644/fromItemId/142

    The ACCC has set a tentative final decision date on the proposed undertakings for 29 March 2012.

  6. @bazza, you obviously don’t know many people. Some of us care about sport, and watching it in HD (non-sport also), and watching it live. Plus, if you have even half decent negotiation skills, foxtel isn’t that expensive.

  7. I don’t know anyone that still pays for TV, so it’s difficult to see how anyone cares… It’s been an effective monopoly for the longest time anyway.

  8. So does this mean I’ll get better service and reception now?

    Of late I’m getting video & audio noise on the Austar channels and this is unrelated to the recent bad weather. I called and once I got through to a human all they did was remotely re-set the unit which did nothing to fix the problem. I personally just think my STB is getting old and needs replacing but of course that will cost Austar money.

    Maybe if this goes through I can get a new Foxtel one in the coming weeks?

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