Struggling to compete up against Foxtel and Telstra’s T Box service Fetch TV, whose IPTV service has not been picked up by Optus or Vodafone, as the Company had originally hoped for, is now trying to reposition the service with early release movies.
Struggling to compete up against Foxtel and Telstra’s T Box service Fetch TV, whose IPTV service has not been picked up by Optus or Vodafone, as the Company had originally hoped for, is now trying to reposition the service with early release movies.
Available through a limited number of small ISP’s and iiNet, the Fetch TV service has not been widely adopted with iiNet refusing to release their Fetch TV uptake numbers in Australia.
In a press release issued earlier today Fetch TV Fetch TV, which is 47 per cent owned by Malaysian company Astro All Asia Networks and 53 per cent by its senior managers, claim to have signed deals four Hollywood movie studio’s including Fox Studios, Sony Pictures, Madmen Films and WWE Entertainment.
Most of these content creators are currently doing business with Foxtel and Telstra.
Fetch TV chief executive Scott Lorson who describes himself as a “wholesaler” is currently shopping ISP’s to take up his IPTV service however several analysts have said that Fetch TV will struggle to be a “viable alternative to Foxtel or Telstra” untill the NBN is rolled and even then they will face tough competition up against “big known brands” in the Australian market.
“As a new entrant in the content business we realise there are areas where we need to stand apart and we have identified movies,” said. “There will be a migration to digital delivery. Australia has, I think, one of the highest per capita consumption of DVD rentals in the world, plus a huge investment in LCD and plasma (televisions), so people have a demonstrated desire to watch movies at home” Lorson said recently.
“While a lot of players provide digitally delivered movies, if you are going to be a true substitute for a DVD rental store it’s not about providing some movies. “It’s about providing all the movies.” He added.
In recent weeks both Foxtel and Telstra have preached the same message as they rolled out new content services.
At a recent Telstra Briefing Telstra CEO David Thodey said that movies were set to be a “critical part” of his Companies T Box and Big Pond Movie service which already has over 120,000 customers who are on average paying $4.00 a week for content.
Telstra who is now delivering over 2,000 movies as part of their T Box offering which can also be accessed on Samsung and LG IP enabled TV’s is currently negotiating with several Holloywood movie studio’s to sell first release movies as soon as they are released from Cinema runs.
Fetch TV has similar movie deals to Foxtel and Telstra they include studio’s such as Warner, Hopscotch, Lionsgate, Disney, Universal, Paramount and local content providers Roadshow and Icon.
Lorson claims that his latest deal gives his small base of customers access to more new releases than Telstra’s T-Box.
Mr Lorson said subscriber numbers would be announced by iiNet in the coming weeks.
It is understood the total number is low. Mr Lorson said he was keen to do deals with other ISPs “that are not Telstra”.
