News Corp upbeat on Foxtel despite flat revenue
CEO says Australians are more willing to pay for premium programming than previously thought.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
News Corporation remains upbeat about the merger of Foxtel and FOX Sports despite flat revenue at the subscription TV giant.
The international publishing group reported a net loss of $1.9 billion for 2017/18, worse than the previous year’s $872 million.
But the result was skewed by accounting writedowns, including $1.35 billion for the consolidation of Foxtel and FOX Sports in Australia.
In an investor call chief executive Robert Thomson talked up the positive impact of the Australian merger and new Foxtel leadership with CEO Patrick Delany.
“[At Foxtel] there’s a new team, a new mood and new momentum. That will be crucial for the success in driving subscriptions for the health of a business,” Thomson said.
“There’s no doubt Foxtel has the best portfolio of programs and sports rights, which has been enhanced by cricket rights.
“Australian audiences are willing to pay for premium programming, [more so] than we previously assumed.”
Thomson said a new sports streaming product, which is due to roll later this year, would help drive subscriptions and a Foxtel IPO is still on the cards.
5 Responses
I think Foxtel as we know it will be dead long before FTV.
The impression is that Foxtel Now will be re-imagined with a new name that may not have Foxtel as it’s product identity, it will also include 4K content which no doubt competes with Netflix and Optus. I’m not sure about the willing to pay for premium content bit, as subscribers obviously will not pay the former package fees of the past. Currently,with Foxtel Now’s own Android streaming device being buggy and prone to buffering glitches Foxtel badly needs to be compatible with a broader range of devices like Apple TV as well as being preloaded on all Smart TV’s sold in Australia.
The Android app is rock solid for me – no bugs, no buffering.
Foxtel Now has had growth since it’s start, so obviously people are prepared to pay the asking price. Given the higher growth of other services, though those services aren’t like for like, they’d obviously be looking at whether a different pricing regime would get them better performance. Certainly seems the current management have a different view on the Foxtel Now strategy than the previous management did and are looking at something different
New info expected this week at a media event.
Patrick Delaney on media week last Thursday said there will be an announcement this Tuesday night and more to come later in the year. Rupert is also in town. Let’s see what comes out.