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Foxtel to migrate all cable customers to satellite

Big changes ahead for Foxtel customers.

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Foxtel has confirmed a long-term plan to move all its current cable subscribers to satellite.

Foxtel Group Director of Corporate Affairs Bruce Meagher told EFTM, “Foxtel is moving to satellite only delivery for its broadcast subscribers while also significantly increasing its presence as a video streaming service.

“In the future, the NBN will fully manage the HFC network to deliver broadband services. Satellite is the best option for high quality video images watched on the large screens in homes and other venues. IP delivered streaming services are clearly the delivery mode of choice for individuals watching on a range of devices in and out of home. Foxtel is able to offer the best of both.”

When asked about the difference in service from HFC to Satellite for customers, Meagher told EFTM “Satellite is less prone to outages than the HFC cable and delivers great quality HD signals. iQ2 and iQ3 boxes can be connected to the internet to deliver a range of services such as streaming video, Start Over and Look Back.”

An nbn spokesperson told Mumbrella the subscription TV providers decision would have no bearing on the services they provide:  “Foxtel has historically negotiated its access to HFC spectrum with Telstra and has continued to have access to the HFC spectrum even when nbn has taken ownership of that portion of the network.

“Any decision from Foxtel to no longer deliver its services over the HFC network is a commercial decision for Foxtel and is not related to nbn.”

No timeline has been laid out for the completion of the migration. You can read more at EFTM.

This post updates.

46 Responses

      1. It will be interesting to see how Foxtel will price it’s sports package in the future as I suspect that the cancellation rate for their other content must be increasing. There isn’t many options for Foxtel except perhaps for it to fully adopt a Netflix type streaming service, but I’m unsure how they can moderate their pricing unless it streams worldwide under the aegis of News Corporation originating from the USA using the Sky banner.

  3. I live in NZ now and haven’t bothered to get the tv connected. There’s a dish on the roof but no antenna. I have unlimited broadband. I can stream TVNZ live on my laptop, they have a great catch up service (and also shows “express from the US” which don’t screen on FTA), and I have Netflix and NZ streaming service called Lightbox. Who needs Foxtel (or Sky)?

  4. Pay TV was always supposed to be on satellite, that was Keating’s original plan. However, Packer (with Optus and 7) and Murdoch (with Telstra) wouldn’t accept Keatings licence fees and conditions so they rolled out duplicate analogue cable (1960s technology) in metropolitan areas so that they could do what they wanted. Satellite was used in regional areas. The duplicate cable never made economic sense and Packer soon bailed and joined Foxtel. Then Optus sold out to Telstra. The network then had to be update to digital then HD digital and now its going to be part of the NBN. Yet another colossal stuff up in Australian telecommunications.

  5. As we all know Foxtel don’t care about what the customer wants , look at the customer help service it’s not 24/7 over the phone everything is now online. look at the channels disappearing FX , World Movies and so on. The pricing over the past 10 years has gone up and more the health care price rise. so as we can all see online streaming services around are hurting Foxtels bottom line Cry me a river.Our Foxtel Go isn’t working out for us. So some bright person has came up with Satellite again look at the stats from overseas it works there so lets go back to the old days of Galaxy in Australia. so foxtel new pr program is At Foxtel everything that is old is new again welcome to Foxtel.

  6. I honestly think Foxtel, if it wants to migrate to satellite only, seriously needs to think about launching a Foxtel-owned satellite: instead, of using transponders on a Optus-run satellite.

    I am also expecting that the FTA networks will kick up a stink, especially if the retransmission deals they currently have with Foxtel will need to be renegotiated: if adding FTA to Adelaide and Perth subscribers will have to be taken into account.

  7. We’ve had satellite for many, many years due to our house being a long way from the street so cable would have been very expensive. Loss of signal in storms or rain is very rare, and is only a very brief loss. Access to FTA is fine for us – we only watch ABC, SBS and SBS Vice and there seems to be others there too (never bothered looking).
    I know people don’t like change, but what a lot of fuss about something which may happen in the future! Frankly I can’t see Foxtel spending the money on installing a satellite dish on every current subscribers roof!

  8. So whats happening to FTA channels on Foxtel? I’d like to keep all those and still be able to record and access them via Foxtel. This isn’t a very good move on Foxtel’s part tbh. I’d much prefer to watch my TV over cable than over satellite which is prone to outages a lot more than cable (contrary to what Foxtel says)

  9. Back in 2000 when I moved from Adelaide to Melbourne

    I asked Foxtel about the install when our house was completed building

    They said no cabling to new Estates and i would have to have a dish and pay an extra $10 @ month for the privilege.

    I was already disillusioned with what I was receiving for my money so I cancelled then and there, and have never looked back.

    No mention of any fee increase for Satellite dishes and installation for all ??

    That’s a lot of money they are going to want to recoup 🙂

  11. Interesting article and business decision. FYI: I, and 2 other households in my family, have Foxtel satellite (SE NSW and ACT) and none of us have ever had it programs we’ve watched affected by weather / storms etc.

    1. Perhaps you have simply been lucky. No, perhaps is not the word. You *have* been lucky.

      There has been severe weather at Optus’ uplink sites that has knocked Austar/Foxtel et al out completely.

      1. And mobile phone towers go offline and telephone exchanges burn down and TV roof aerials fly off. Big whoop.

        Perhaps you have simply been ‘unlucky’. No – perhaps is not the word: you have just been unlucky.

        News flash: build a cover over your satellite if it is that common i.e it’s obviously not.

  12. so will that mean i will have ” forced ” to move to the IQ3 to receive all the fta channels , more things forced upon us , nbn ring a bell

    1. Nobody is being forced to do anything. You elect to either subscribe to a service, or to not. They are simply ceasing to provide what they consider to be a legacy service. The provision of which was forced upon them by one of their parent companies (Telstra) who used to own the cable.

      The satellite broadcast provides coverage everywhere (not just cabled areas), and paying the nbn for access to cable spectrum to service areas that can already receive a satellite signal just doesn’t make financial sense for them.

      And if it’s no longer being forced upon them, why would they continue to pay for it?

  13. This move is surely going to put a massive dent in subscriber numbers. I imagine a good proportion of cable customers will refuse to have a satellite dish on their roof, and will just disconnect completely.

    I myself am unlikely to make the switch. If Foxtel Now gets some improvements (such as 1080p, even 4K for sport) I may take a look, but otherwise I’m not interested.

  14. KU band is hopeless due to its high frequency when it rains and the small dish size specially when people allow trees and other buildings to block the signal!

    1. That’s the main reason why PBS (a pay service across the Pacific uplinked from Sydney) went bust, where their competitor Sky Pacific (uplinked from Fiji) survived. Sky uses C-band for that precise reason. Rain, tropics etc. kills Ku band.

  16. NBN aren’t being honest here, this decision will impact them massively in a positive way because they won’t have the interference of providing 2 services on a HFC connection which is half the problem with the NBNs current HFC woes.

    Plus foxtel are doing this because the fee the NBN charges to access HFC will be much greater than what Telstra was charging. Foxtel employees have posted comments to this affect in various forums.

    1. The Foxtel cable was supposed to carry both Pay TV and broadband without interference (they sold both), but the way Telstra did it produced interference. The NBN was advised of this before they bought the HFC. They thought they had a fix and started rolling it out without fully testing it, and it didn’t work. So all new HFC connections have been suspended for 18 months while they figure it out. Foxtel leaving the HFC network will solve it. The Optus network was in even worse shape, the NBN shut it down after paying $800m for it.

  17. We’ve still got a Foxtel dish on our roof – even though we cncelled the service about 4-5 years ago.
    Foxtel don’t seem interested in collecting it.
    And the comments about the satelite signal dropping out during bad weather are true. Dismal.

    1. They don’t want them back, when our house was being renovated the woman from foxtel said “just tell your builders to dump it when they replace the roof”……… they don’t mind charging for them though!

      1. They don’t want them back because they are in essence worthless. New 65cm dishes can be bought one off retail for $35 imagine how much they can be had for wholesale in quantity. LNBs are similarly cheap.

        Sending someone round to recover and repair site damage would far exceed their total cost and as you pointed out, they can always charge, like a wounded bull, the next sucke… sorry subscriber for a new dish etc.

  18. it appears to me that Foxtel is no longer happy to pay a non shareholding company, or government owned corporation, to access the network. they must have been getting quite the deal from telstra and this may well have been reinvested back into the partnership.

  19. “Satellite is less prone to outages”… that’s a load of crap. My parents have satellite and as soon as bad weather hits Foxtel drops out. Work in a lot of pubs that all use satellite and exactly the same thing happens.
    I’ll be migrating myself off foxtels subscriber list when they try get me off cable.

    1. I agree, I refused to have satellite after our house was renovated, switched to cable because the house we rented had cable and it didn’t lose the picture once. The minute you get a strong gust of wind or rain, with satellite, the picture pixelates or you lose it all together. Foxtel is becoming less and less appealing.

    3. How long have they had it though? The newer dishes shouldn’t do that unless you are in a particularly hard to reach part of the country (for satelite)

      The coverage map and what size of dish you need for each zone is here:
      foxtel.com.au/content/dam/foxtel/support/pdf/tdt-manual.pdf

      So yes it is less prone to outages… when it’s installed professionally to the right specifications.

      1. Rubbish. Even professionally installed dishes can get rained out as well. The Ku band in which they operate are prone to rain out and sun outages the world over. What about people like myself who live in blackspot areas for FTA? Not all FTA multichannels are on the Foxtel satellite. As I use my cable IQ2 for FTA way more than Foxtel. Looks likely a Foxtel cancellation will occur when they seek to migrate me to satellite.

        1. It’s not unusual for Foxtel to go MIA for hours in the tropics when a good storm is lurking around. The cloud cover from a cyclone passing by can take it out for a couple of days. There is the predictable sun fade too.

          Pratical experience talking here, with a correctly aimed 65cm dish with nothing much to speak of in the fresnel zone. Bigger dishes aren’t necessarily an option due to wind loading.

        2. If you’re in a blackspot area you should be able to get the VAST system and all the FTA channels, you can check here: mysattv.com.au/Default.aspx

          1. True, but VAST only carries remote area service channels Seven Central, Imparja and Ten Central which is aimed for outback areas, Mt Isa and Alice Springs, no offence to those areas, no thanks! Plus there is no 7flix or 9life either on VAST, and no commercial main channel HD. Not to mention Media Hub with really bad picture quality on Imparja playout, pass!!

    4. Our house only got satellite because cable wasn’t available in our suburb at the time. The second it rains anymore than a brief shower, the Foxtel picture starts breaking up and the familiar error message comes up until the rain clears. I feel for those who will be forced to join us satellite users.

    1. The only way to get FTA in Adelaide on Foxtel Sat is to have the troublesome IQ3, as that has a terrestrial feed. However you can only record one FTA channel at a time, and not watch a second FTA while recording the other. So I still have to use my PVR because I cannot record 6pm News and 6:30pm Neighbours because I have a 15min overrun allowance for all FTA recordings, so there will be a clash the moment 6.30pm ticks over.

  22. That could limit some customers where landlords may not want multiple satellite dishes on a block of flats, or even a single one installed. I expect there might be an uptake of Foxtel Online (or Go, Now, whatever they call it), and a reduction in physical boxes being installed.

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