{"id":48779,"date":"2014-03-20T21:13:34","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T01:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=48779"},"modified":"2014-03-20T21:13:35","modified_gmt":"2014-03-21T01:13:35","slug":"how-digital-streaming-services-are-giving-foxtel-a-run-for-its-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2014\/03\/20\/how-digital-streaming-services-are-giving-foxtel-a-run-for-its-money\/","title":{"rendered":"How Digital Streaming Services Are Giving Foxtel a Run for it\u2019s Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Latest figures show that Australians are spending millions of dollars on digital streaming services<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

All up we spent $143 million on services such as Quickflix and iTunes last year, up from $117 million during 2012, a jump of 22%. <\/p>\n

Those figures make Australian the second biggest market for such services on a per-capita basis.<\/p>\n

And that means that Foxtel<\/strong> needs to act quickly if it wants to remain competitive.<\/p>\n

Can Foxtel survive the competition from streaming services?<\/h2>\n

Foxtel enjoys a cosy monopoly in Australia, meaning it has only ever had to compete with free-to-air networks. <\/p>\n

But high-speed broadband has become more common, and will be getting faster and even more widespread in the coming decade. <\/p>\n

As a business model under threat, free-to-air networks in Australia have been relatively quick to adapt.<\/p>\n

The networks are facing falling revenue, a shrinking ad market, and viewers shifting to digital. Channel Seven, Nine and Ten all have catch-up or streaming services, as do SBS and ABC.<\/p>\n

In the US competition has been even fiercer. There, free-to-air networks aren\u2019t just competing with hundreds of cable television providers, but a huge number of popular streaming services too.
\nBecause they\u2019ve had to compete in a tight market place, they\u2019ve innovated and have jumped into streaming. <\/p>\n

Will Game of Thrones save Foxtel?<\/h2>\n

Foxtel on the other hand, is only just getting skin in the game.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve launched a new service called Presto, which will offer unlimited streaming of movies across Foxtel\u2019s channels for $19.99 a month.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a smart move\u2014consumers have already shown they\u2019re willing to pay more for movies. That 22% rise in revenue came off the back of a 15% rise in the number of new subscriptions.<\/p>\n

The other thing up Foxtel\u2019s sleeve is their acquisition of the rights to popular HBO series Game of Thrones.<\/p>\n

Foxtel stitched up a deal with HBO that prevents Australian viewers accessing the show on iTunes and Quickflix before Foxtel has screened the entire series. <\/p>\n

Can Foxtel compete with other video streaming options out there?<\/h2>\n

The advantage of Foxtel\u2019s service over Quickflix is that it is focussing on movies, not TV shows. <\/p>\n

Though the service is $5 a month more expensive than Quickflix\u2019s, its back catalogue of movies \u2014 everything that has screened across its channels is larger than Quickflix\u2019s meagre offerings.<\/p>\n

But for some reason Presto will only be available \u2014 initially at least \u2014 on computers and iPads, while its competitors are offering multi-device compatibility.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a baffling move, especially considering rumours that both Netflix and Virgin are looking at setting up here.<\/p>\n

And given that Australians are spending more money on these services than ever, it looks certain that there will be more competition and more streaming services coming our way. <\/p>\n

Foxtel will need to do more if it is to compete. <\/p>\n

Callum Denness
\nContributing Editor, Money Morning<\/em><\/strong>
\nJoin Money Morning on Google+ <\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n


\nBy MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MoneyMorning.com.au Latest figures show that Australians are spending millions of dollars on digital streaming services. All up we spent $143 million on services such as Quickflix and iTunes last year, up from $117 million during 2012, a jump of 22%. Those figures make Australian the second biggest market for such services on a per-capita … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “How Digital Streaming Services Are Giving Foxtel a Run for it\u2019s Money”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}