Sorry iTunes. Foxtel stitches up Game of Thrones exclusive.
Foxtel will be the only place in Australia you can see Season 4 of Game of Thrones.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription, Top Stories
If you were happily -legally- buying Game of Thrones episodes on iTunes Australia last year, the day after they aired on Pay TV, then you may want to sit down.
Those days are over.
In 2014 Foxtel will be the only place you can see the acclaimed drama in Australia*, as part of the Subscription TV provider’s deal with HBO.
“Series 4 of Game of Thrones will be exclusive to Foxtel. It won’t be available on iTunes. And that hasn’t been the case for the last few series,” Foxtel’s Director of Television Brian Walsh told TV Tonight.
“It’s a big coup for us and we have a lot of ideas around the marketing of Thrones. Globally it’s a television sensation.
“I think having it exclusively in Australia on the Foxtel platform is indicative of the way we’re approaching a lot of our acquired content now. Our absolute desire is to increase our Subscriber numbers and exclusively acquiring Game of Thrones is important.”
Season Four will air Express from the US on Showcase on April 7th.
*prior to Australian DVD release.
- Tagged with Game of Thrones
35 Responses
david, do you know if Foxtel have done the same to Girls & Looking as they aren’t available either :( I find Foxtel incredibly frustrating especially as Foxtel Go doesn’t provide the nicest viewing quality 90% of the time.
My understanding is Foxtel is the exclusive home of HBO in Australia. It appears to have extended to non-broadcast for a period of time too. Yet it is taking forever to bring us Behind the Candelabra.
Good on them. It makes sense.
Can you watch it on iTunes in the States, or do you need to have HBO?
Again. When I had Foxtel it wasn’t worth the money for the product I was receiving. Endless repeats and endless ads and repeats of those endless repeats and ads again. So if Australians wish to see GOT they subscribe to Foxtel or wait…Hard choice.
Interesting article in the SMH blames not Foxtel, but HBO. Because people are leaving cable subscriptions for online streaming, HBO is giving overseas pay broadcasters exclusivity contracts, making up for the loss of revenue from cable.
They do realise the few people who were happy to pay for it on iTunes because they didn’t want Foxtel will just go and get it else where now.
Really was the iTunes deal having that big of an impact on the Foxtel ratings?
@MichaelQ – I’m glade it’s not on FTA, they would screw it up, it would be on late night and full of ads ever 5 minutes. So glade I have Foxtel for this one.
A Season pass for game of thrones in the USA Itunes store is $38.99. us dollars
I would love to know what the Itunes download numbers where for last season