Foxtel, one of the world’s most expensive subscription TV service, who started off telling subscribers that there would be “no advertising” with their service is no urging Google to take action to protect their business from competition.
The service that is 50% owned by News Corporation and 50% by Telstra has called in their chief spin doctors News Corp is an effort to pressure the Federal Coalition Government to protect them from overseas services that consumers are accessing and in a lot of cases paying for.
One example is Netflix, which Australian viewers are able access in the USA via a dummy IP address service. Once they have reached the Netflix US site thousands of Australian are paying for the Netflix content because it is significantly cheaper and vastly superior to what Foxtel is offering consumers in Australia.
Foxtel is labelling this piracy for the simple reason that it competes with their offering.
For an investment of no more than $29 Vs $109+ for Foxtel services, Australians get access to current TV shows, first run movies, 4K content and top rating shows.
Recently Foxtel invested $10M in buying the rights to Game of Thrones a TV series made by HBO in the USA.
To watch the brand new Game of Thrones episodes on the internet as they come out in the USA viewers need HBO Go. But to access HBO Go in the USA viewers need to subscribe to HBO via a cable provider such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Direct TV.
For 255 Channels of content including Full HD thrown in for free Direct TV charge US$44.99 for their premium service, in comparison Foxtel is charging $109 and this includes a fee for Full HD channels.
Currently Attorney-General George Brandis is preparing draft legislation to tackle piracy and News Corp are using their PR mite to try and sway the Federal Government to protect Foxtel.
News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson who has a big vested interest in Foxtel is using the Australian newspaper as a PR machine to try and pressure both Google and The Australian Federal Government to protect the network which for decades has been a monopoly.
Thompson told the Australian that search engines like Google ?direct consumers to illegal, copyright infringing material on the basis they may also host some legal content. Mr Thomson said there was no reason why Google and others could not demote and ultimately remove websites hosting large amounts of illegal ?material from their results.
Thomson, whose pay-TV operator Foxtel has previously said the piracy craze was damaging subscription-TV revenues, has criticised internet service providers in the past in an effort to get a better business deal for Australians.
This is not about what is good for all Australians, it’s all about what is good for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation.
Thompson bleated on to his scribes claiming that “There’s no doubt that search giants need to be held to account”.
The organisation that needs to be held to account is News Corporation and journalists on the Australian newspaper who openly run campaigns against organisations that compete with News Corporation or their subsidiaries or Companies that News Corporation have a vested interest in.
Another service in News Corporations cross hairs is the pending roll out of HBB TV. Currently Foxtel and News Corporation are trying to create the impression that HBB TV is in trouble.
Under the headline, “Another Costly Delay for HBB TV” News Corporation journalists have delivered their second story in five days criticising the service which is set to compete head on with Foxtel.
The reality is that Hbb TV will launch next month’s slightly later than they said. Several major TV brands and set top box manufacturers are new selling TV’s that are configured to receive Hbb TV services in Australia.
Foxtel executives have told me that the new service will hurt Foxtel when it is launched.
What News Corporation journalists don’t write about is the poor quality Foxtel box that only comes with 500GB of storage and is designed to stop an external drive being attached. 18 months ago Foxtel were spruiking a new STB, we are still waiting.
When you compare the new Fetch TV STB which will be launched exclusively at Harvey Norman next month the difference between what Foxtel have on offer and what Foxtel is delivering is chalk and cheese. The Fetch TV offering has a superior interface and works on both a tablet and smartphone, the UI is slick and easy to navigate Vs the five year old Foxtel offering which is clunky and looks like a smartphone interface from a decade ago.
HbbTV was developed in Europe where it is now widespread and popular.
The service combines broadcasting services with the internet on the same screen.
For users who don’t have a HBB certified TV several set top box manufacturers are set to launch low cost boxes that allow consumers to access the service.
Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein is also demanding changes to copyright laws photographed alongside Thompson and Lachlan Murdoch recently Freudenstein is trying to claim that if the Government does not protect the Monopoly that Foxtel has had for more than a decade “jobs will be lost”.
Freudenstein has backed calls for new laws. He claims to be that the Federal Government needs to be doing more in this country to stop what he calls “piracy”.
A lot of Australians call it getting “better value for money”.
One former Foxtel customer said to me recently. “All I am doing is using a service to mask my IP address. I am using my credit card to buy a US service that is cheaper than Foxtel. I am paying for the service and I don’t believe Foxtel or News Corporation have a right to label me as engaging in piracy”.
Telstra has billions on their balance sheet, and News Corporation is tipped to reach $4 billion by the 2016 financial year.
Maybe if they lower their costs, deliver a superior box and an improved interface they will be able to better compete in the Australian market.
