Foxtel dropping 19 channels from Foxtel Play streaming
No more BoxSets, 13th Street, Binge, Syfy, Lifestyle You, World Movies, CNN, Foxtel Arts & more.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
19 channels will be removed from the Foxtel Play streaming platform next month.
On its Community Board Foxtel told subscribers:
“Sadly, we’ll be saying goodbye to some services from Foxtel Play but the good news is, they’ll still be available through our broadcast service.
“So, BoxSets, 13th Street, Binge, Syfy, Discovery Science, Animal Planet, Lifestyle You, Style, World Movies, CNN, Smooth, BBC World News, CNBC, Max, CMC, Eurosport News, Foxtel Arts, MTV Music and MTV Dance will bid us farewell from Monday 5 June.”
It’s not clear why the channels are going. Entry point pricing, which has been $10 a month for select packages, is not changing.
Foxtel Play allows viewers to stream select channels without having to fork out for a full in-home installation.
For some time there has been speculation of an overhauling of Foxtel branding, expected to be renamed Foxtel Now.
In February TV Tonight asked Executive Director of TV Brian Walsh if the company had too many confusing products.
“It’s on our agenda to clean up all the branding. I think it’s very intuitive of you to pick that. There are far too many sub-brands,” he said.
“People don’t know the difference between Foxtel Go, Foxtel Play, Anytime, On Demand. Even from a technology perspective our remote controls have different things on them.
“So we need to do a complete product clean-up, if you will.”
Foxtel says programs on BoxSets and Binge will remain available via its on demand service in various packs on Foxtel Play.
A Foxtel spokesperson told TV Tonight the move reflects more people watching on demand.
“Periodically we make changes to our proposition in our push to give customers more of the content they want, delivered how they want to watch it.
“Most of the content from the broadcast channels is still available on demand, which is how people are increasingly using Foxtel Play. In December, we lowered the entry point for Foxtel Play to $10 per month, making Foxtel more accessible than ever. Foxtel Play customers will continue to enjoy access to the best choice of blockbuster movies, new shows and complete seasons, including every new HBO drama and Foxtel originals, as well as live sport.”
New pricing June 5:
Previous pricing December 2016:
Updated.
Via: Mumbrella
12 Responses
It seems obvious to me that Foxtel have tried to value add it’s brand and compete with Stan and later Netflix, streaming the same content at a cheaper price, this indicates some recognition of the demise of Cable TV as is happening in America right now. I’m not sure how Foxtel can restructure it’s way out of this commercial problem especially if News Corp will buy Telstra’s 50% share in the company. Mr Murdoch may have to start his own version of Netflix called FoxGlobal and FoxSports streamed from the UK and America in HD and UHD (4K).
Then in 6 months time they’ll raise the price by $1 claiming that they are giving people more by adding BoxSets to the package as well, it’s George Orwell’s 1984 Chocolate ration scenario.
Hah, they certainly have form in that regard.
Compare what they give you for $10/mth with what Netflix offer. Foxtel is another dinosaur that doesn’t understand the internet, so it tries to force people to keep spending over the mark to consume content the only way that Foxtel know how to deliver it.
Yep and the “to give customers more of the content they want,” line makes me laugh.
I only subscribe $10pm for the three months of the year that Wentworth is on . As long as I can still watch it, the rest doesn’t phase me
Ookay….by the time this piece got down to ‘choose all the little pictures’….I turned into SantasLittleHelper…it all became blah blah…I am totally confused…..I had recently, been toying with the idea of pay TV…now totally over it…all too complicated, for me…*G*
Interesting that they remove BBC World, CNN and CNBC, leaving your only news sources as Sky News and Fox News. Agenda?
Does this also mean the channels are going to be removed from Foxtel Go (the streaming catch up service for those with cable/satellite) too?
That’s like Domino’s announcing that their pizza with hardly any topping will now be sold for the same price with the two slices with the most topping taken out.
Foxtel are already bleeding customers and now they’re opening up the vein a little more.
You forgot to add that they’re doing it “to give customers more of the toppings they want, delivered how they want to eat it.”
(People actually eat Dominos? Like, not just the OK albeit plastic-y 😉 garlic bread but their nasty, salty, fishy-tasting pizzas? Go figure…)
Foxtel do have a point about the mish-mash of Foxtel Play & Foxtel Anytime (& what are essentially its sub-brands, Foxtel Go & Foxtel On Demand). But yeah, when your churn rate is something like 10x~20x your growth rate you’ve got a problem – you’re relying on new customers coming in just to stand still.
Not sure that taking stuff away from the easiest, most flexible, & cheapest subscription option is the best way of dealing with that. But, hey, everyone has a right to plan their own funeral…
Wow, that would be a complete deal breaker if I had that. They’ll lose a lot of customers from this decision.
Ideas: 1. The new pricing on play is so good that it’s doing better than the cable/satellite service. 2. They are going to lower the package prices and make a couple more packs. 3. Unable to have online channels due to rights changing. 4. Channels will go to a HD pack at a higher price. 5. Foxtel being greedy. Also the free use of the hayu app finishes next week as well.