Eurosport disappointed by Foxtel decision to dump channel
Updated: "We would love to continue serving Foxtel's subscribers with Eurosport," says Discovery.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Subscription
Discovery has issued a statement following Foxtel’s decision to quit the Eurosport channel at the end of the month.
The channel has been available to Foxtel subscribers since 2009.
“Eurosport in Australia, is the home of passion sports including Cycling, Athletics, Winter Sports and Snooker. Despite a significant increase in Eurosport’s audience share in recent years, Foxtel has decided not to include Eurosport in its line-up after 31 January 2020,” it said in a statement.
“Eurosport has an exciting offering of exclusive sports rights for its fans in 2020, including the IAAF World Athletics Indoor Championships, Giro d’Italia and many other World and European Cycling tour races.
“We do not like disappointing our fans and would love to continue serving Foxtel’s subscribers with Eurosport.”
The move comes despite a new true crime channel Investigation Discovery launching on 1st February 2020.
Foxtel said in a statement:
“As part of our evaluation of programming, Foxtel has made the decision to prioritise sport codes where we see consistent viewer numbers. As a result, the Discovery Eurosport channel will not be available on Foxtel from 31 January 2020. The Eurosport channel provides coverage of European sports including alpine sports, cycling, football and niche sports such as chess however viewing numbers for the channel have been consistently small.
“Foxtel is continuing to invest in providing great sports coverage and we have some exciting announcements in store for 2020. We know however there are some sports on the Eurosport channel that have a very engaged group of fans and we acknowledge there will be some disappointment at the channel’s removal.
“For fans of popular European sports we will continue to look at what options are available. For example, SBS on Demand will be available through Foxtel early in 2020 which includes a significant range of European cycling events. In other areas, it may be direct relationships can be established with some codes where that makes commercial sense. We will keep fans of European sport up to date during 2020.”
Updated.
21 Responses
so weird they are getting rid of it when then advertise all the up coming snooker on eurosport
And another big loss for motorsports fans. World Endurance Championship (and LeMans 24), World Touring cars, MXGP, Asia Rally and more.
So the trend continues over the last few years if it not AFL or Cricket ( or a ball sport) nobody cares
Isn’t the exact idea of subscription TV that you can have numerous channels that appeal to niche interests rather than a few which have mass appeal.
I suspect the true argument is over cost – Foxtel have axed it because Discovery want more than Foxtel are willing to pay. That happened here in the UK a couple of years ago – was sorted in the end.
?But Foxtel don’t get that..
Argh!. I’ve just been getting into all the Snooker action on Eurosport, where the competition recently has been brilliant, especially following Aussie Neil Robertson. Just another reason to consider dropping Foxtel altogether.
Well stated Mr Delaneys PA….glad to see he reads these comments..and all I can say is they are losing customers because of his “simple business decision “..but your loyalty is commendable
Patrick Delaney has been promoted to CEO to sort out Foxtel and channels that can’t either pay their way or bring in customers will be punted. It’s a pretty simple business decision. I’m sure there would have been a price that Foxtel would have kept Eurosports for but Discovery weren’t prepared to pay.
Do you have any idea if fetch is getting the Eurosports channel
Based on Foxtel’s ongoing dumping of channels … coming later in 2020 … “Fox Euro Sports” ? Somehow I think anyone who watched anything on this channel previously will be out of luck when it comes to Foxtel, as I don’t see them trying to get the right for anything that was on this channel (especially if Eurosports continues on other platforms).
Big shame to see Eurosport go as I doubt much of the content will appear elsewhere
I read somewhere that Fetch TV was considering picking up Eurosports. Hopefully that happens!
yet they shows ads of whats coming to eurosport i wish they would get rid of the 4 or 5 religious channels
Why is this a surprise, Foxtel have stated minor sports are no longer on their radar, Eurosport channel about to go, Nascars gone,PL gone, A League only still there cause of the 5 yr contract but shows & broadcasts significantly reduced.Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea TV gone, but go through and see how many sports they no longer show. Darts rumoured to go by end of 2020..
AFL /NRL survive but when next rights deal occurs big chance streaming services will bid big time..then Mr Foxtel what do you do with your channels of endless repeats and ads…
Arsenal TV games are still aired but has shifted to Bein Sports
beIN picked up Arsenal’s delayed replays a few weeks ago, halfway through the season. The others are presumably too expensive.
Eurosport also had the Fencing Grand Prix finals, which is the only fencing shown in this country.
Is Fox Sports the new C7 Sport? This is exactly what happened before C7 Sport closed down with just one marquee sport (AFL in the case of C7 Sport and A-League in the case of Fox Sports) and little to nothing else. Could this be the writing on the wall for Fox Sports?
I doubt it – unlike the other channels, Foxtel owns Fox Sports Pty Ltd which operates the Fox Sports channels … and given their monopoly over most major sports (Supercars, Formula One, AFL, NRL, Cricket), I don’t see them going anywhere anytime soon – if anything, they’ll just get bigger, buying rights to more sports, then forcing people to either register for Foxtel or Kayo to view them.
I believe C7 Sport had financial issues and also issues with Optus which was moving to change to Foxtel via its cable network instead, a move no doubt intended to provide competition to Telstra, and its Foxtel deals.
Fox Sports does need year round content to fill the various channels especially with streaming competition on the rise, just having seasonal AFL, NRL and selected cricket wont completely justify installing a satellite 4K set top box, but I guess Racing / on line sports gamblers will disagree.
‘selected cricket’ ?
There’s no Sheffield Shield coverage for example, considering it is the nursery of cricket talent it should feature more.
FetchTV?!