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Quickflix hopeful of outcome, points finger at Stan.

Quickflix boss draws attention to "Stan's motivations" but says he is dedicated to a positive outcome.

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Quickflix is remaining optimistic in the face of massive financial hurdles.

This week the Perth-based SVOD and DVD service entered administration after negotiations to restructure failed to reach an agreement with shareholders Stan.

“Clearly we see that there is a scenario here of a restructure that enables Quickflix to go forward, and I am dedicated to seeing an outcome,” CEO Stephen Langsford told the Australian Financial Review.

“We see Quickflix having a valuable underlying business … and it is clear what the impediments were in taking that business forward.”

This week Quickflix advised its subscribers, “As a small independent company listed on the ASX and owned by thousands of Australians, the Quickflix journey has been exciting but not always easy, especially when it comes to competing against much larger media interests. Some years ago one of our competitors acquired shares in our company which has resulted in an impediment to securing necessary new capital to ensure our service is the best it can be.”

Today Langsford acknowledged Stan’s redeemable preference shares had prevented the company to move forward and secure additional capital.

“Clearly we haven’t been successful with that, so we will let everyone draw their own conclusions on Stan’s motivations.”

7 Responses

  1. Quickflix knew it was going to have a lot of competition when Netflix and Stan released. Can’t wait until Hulu comes to Australia and the streaming wars are on!

    1. Hulu is already available in Australia, with a smart DNS service (and it is awesome – HD and around 24 hours after US airing). It won’t come here officially in its US form as most of the shows on it have deals with local distributors – Stan, Netflix, Presto, FTA or Foxtel.

    1. The deal between Quickflix & HBO was crazy desperate – $10 million in exchange for 16% (later diluted to 8%), board veto rights, and a $10 million penalty payment if ownership/control substantially changed. Essentially, it was a straight ‘poison pill’ deal to lock competitors out.

      As soon as HBO sold those shares to Nine, it was Quickflix’s pill to swallow. The only surprising thing is it’s taken nearly 2 years to kill them…

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