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Foxtel enters broadband, telephony market
Lucy Battersby - Dec 2, 2013
Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein. Photo: Tomasz Machnik
Foxtel will start selling retail broadband and telephone services for the
first time next year after signing a commercial deal with one of its parent
companies, Telstra.
After years of speculation, Foxtel confirmed on Monday it would soon become
a wholesale customer selling broadband over Telstra's ADSL copper-wired
based network and fibre optic cables where NBN services were available.
Foxtel cannot sell broadband over Telstra's hybrid-fibre coaxial [HFC] cable
network, even though it delivers subscription television over this cable,
because it was not available to any other wholesale customers and Foxtel
must acquire broadband on the same terms as other wholesalers, a Foxtel
spokesman said. Customers outside the HFC footprint could still access
Foxtel through satellite.
"This is a transformative event for the Foxtel business. It will enable us
to greatly enhance the breadth, quality and value of the services we offer
to customers while opening up significant opportunities for growth,''
Foxtel's
chief executive, Richard Freudenstein, said in a statement.
''International experience demonstrates that triple play and broadband
bundles have been hugely popular with consumers and have allowed operators
to boost take up of subscription TV services.''
Pricing was not yet available.
Foxtel did not put the broadband and telephone services out to tender, but
negotiated the deal with Telstra over the course of 2013, a spokesman said.
Negotiations started around the same time Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
increased its stake in Foxtel from 25 per cent to 50 per cent in late 2012
through the purchase of Consolidated Media, and after Telstra chief
executive, David Thodey, said he would have no problem with Foxtel competing
against it for internet and phone customers.
Mr Freudenstein previously worked at another of Mr Murdoch's companies
called BSkyB in the UK for seven years before moving to Australia to work
for News Corporation. Mr Murdoch's Twentieth Century Fox has a 39 per cent
stake in BSkyB, which has used broadband and phone bundling to take a
substantial share of the broadband market from incumbent telco BT.
Foxtel's so-called triple play could be a threat to Telstra's retail
customer base. Rather than buying Foxtel services as an add-on to a Telstra
internet and phone package, consumers would be able to access services
through Foxtel without having any direct relationship with Telstra.
a..
http://m.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/foxtel-enters-broadband-telephony-market-20131202-hv3xr.html
Lucy Battersby - Dec 2, 2013
Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein. Photo: Tomasz Machnik
Foxtel will start selling retail broadband and telephone services for the
first time next year after signing a commercial deal with one of its parent
companies, Telstra.
After years of speculation, Foxtel confirmed on Monday it would soon become
a wholesale customer selling broadband over Telstra's ADSL copper-wired
based network and fibre optic cables where NBN services were available.
Foxtel cannot sell broadband over Telstra's hybrid-fibre coaxial [HFC] cable
network, even though it delivers subscription television over this cable,
because it was not available to any other wholesale customers and Foxtel
must acquire broadband on the same terms as other wholesalers, a Foxtel
spokesman said. Customers outside the HFC footprint could still access
Foxtel through satellite.
"This is a transformative event for the Foxtel business. It will enable us
to greatly enhance the breadth, quality and value of the services we offer
to customers while opening up significant opportunities for growth,''
Foxtel's
chief executive, Richard Freudenstein, said in a statement.
''International experience demonstrates that triple play and broadband
bundles have been hugely popular with consumers and have allowed operators
to boost take up of subscription TV services.''
Pricing was not yet available.
Foxtel did not put the broadband and telephone services out to tender, but
negotiated the deal with Telstra over the course of 2013, a spokesman said.
Negotiations started around the same time Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
increased its stake in Foxtel from 25 per cent to 50 per cent in late 2012
through the purchase of Consolidated Media, and after Telstra chief
executive, David Thodey, said he would have no problem with Foxtel competing
against it for internet and phone customers.
Mr Freudenstein previously worked at another of Mr Murdoch's companies
called BSkyB in the UK for seven years before moving to Australia to work
for News Corporation. Mr Murdoch's Twentieth Century Fox has a 39 per cent
stake in BSkyB, which has used broadband and phone bundling to take a
substantial share of the broadband market from incumbent telco BT.
Foxtel's so-called triple play could be a threat to Telstra's retail
customer base. Rather than buying Foxtel services as an add-on to a Telstra
internet and phone package, consumers would be able to access services
through Foxtel without having any direct relationship with Telstra.
a..
http://m.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/foxtel-enters-broadband-telephony-market-20131202-hv3xr.html