★★★★★ 0/5

ABC savings through deal with Foxtel, Optus.

“I am pleased to advise that in negotiating these agreements the ABC has achieved considerable financial savings," says David Anderson.

8
Leave a comment

The ABC recently announced new deals with Foxtel and Optus platforms that will deliver more content and savings to the broadcaster.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson: “I am pleased to advise that in negotiating these agreements the ABC has achieved considerable financial savings while also enhancing our reach and content offerings.”

In a statement Kevin McAlinden, Acting Head of Public Affairs noted, “…the successful negotiations between the ABC, our distribution providers, Optus, and Foxtel have resulted in the increased prominence of ABC networks across platforms and secured the rights to additional content. These negotiations have also achieved real financial savings for the Corporation. As always, the ABC’s goal must be to maximise investment in quality content while also searching for such efficiencies.”

Here is a summary of recent changes:

ABC iview
The ABC and Foxtel came to an agreement that from mid-November ABC iview will be available through Foxtel IQ3 and IQ4 boxes. The app will sit alongside Netflix and SBS On Demand and will make it even easier for viewers in the 1.2 million Australian homes that have these boxes to find ABC programs.

Satellite distribution
The ABC has also recently renegotiated its satellite distribution arrangements. These changes include the addition of eight ABC Radio networks on the terrestrial free-to-air television platform, making them available to all Australians, and the removal of ABC radio channels from Foxtel’s satellite-delivered service. We now also have greater flexibility regarding our TV channel configuration on Foxtel, which means we can continue to deliver the ABC to the 2.3 million people who watch it through Foxtel while ensuring the most efficient use of the satellite capacity we use to distribute our content.

Football broadcast rights
In conjunction with this deal, Foxtel and Football Federation Australia have agreed that for the next two years the ABC will be the official free-to-air television broadcaster of the A-League and the W-League as well as matches featuring the Socceroos and the Matildas. This is a real coup for the ABC, bringing the premier domestic competitions and high quality international football to a national audience. The ABC has always been a great supporter of women’s sport in this country so I am particularly delighted to welcome women’s football back to the ABC.

8 Responses

  1. I don’t think so. It makes sense for the ABC to pay the distributor of their product (in this case Foxtel). No-one is going to take out a Foxtel subscription because ABC i-view is now on it, but presumably being on the platform will be of benefit to the ABC – so they should pay for that. It’s how product/platform businesses generally work.

  2. Generally sounds pretty sensible… but – and unless I’m missing something here and admittedly probably a fairly minor point – if one of the ABC’s clear motivations is presumably to obtain the broadest/easiest distribution routes and channels for its services across the enormous geographical mass of Australia, then why are its radio channels coming off Foxtel’s satellite-delivered platform? Would appear at first glance to run counter to some of the other thing it has achieved?

    2. I assume because they’re now on terrestrial free to air TV – where they hadn’t been previously. You’d imagine there’s a net gain there. Given the terrestrial free to air distribution was done without increasing bandwidth requirements, it’s been done for free. Whereas turning off the satellite channels will should save a little bit of cash you’d think.

    1. That is how it typically works in America. The cable/satellite provider pays a fee to carry local free-to-air channels. But Australia is a very different market with a single dominant subscription platform and not the same lack of over-the-air reception issue that Americans have (in the cities here anyway!)

      1. Yeah have noticed that a few times with carriers over there, like recently Dish/Sling didn’t carry FOX as in up to to days ago: “The FOX broadcast network and its cable channels have been blacked out in 17 markets spanning 23 states since Sept. 26. We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Dish and Sling, and they are immediately restoring their subscribers’ access to the Fox networks and television stations, a spokesman for Fox Corporation said in a statement.”

Leave a Reply