More Australians are watching on Foxtel online, according to the latest subscriber figures.
Subscribers to the Pay TV service rose 3.4% to 2.48 million or around 90,000 – compared to the same time a year ago, figures released today show.
Foxtel which is 50:50 owned by Telstra and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, also said full year revenues were up almost 4% to $3.071m. EDITA rose 22%.
Telstra said growth was underpinned by “IP customer growth” indicating the boost in subscriber numbers was driven by Internet-based Foxtel subscribers.
Foxtel has sought to aggressively grow subscriber numbers of late, by launching a Foxtel Go app for mobile viewers and streaming via Internet TV (IPTV) with no set contract.
Subscriber rate churn, which is the rate at which subscribers leave the service, also fell 2% to 14.2%, which helped increase revenues.
Earnings were also boosted by synergies following regional player Austar’s integration into Foxtel.
Telstra CEO David Thodey also refuted claims Foxtel sees NBN as a threat.
In fact, Thodey said the high speed broadband network would be “helpful” the Pay TV giant
“The critical thing for Foxtel is to get access to more homes to be able to sell the Foxtel service,” he said.
“Anything that helps us do that is good news and so the NBN, in that sense, is helpful.”
Telstra’s investor presentation indicates Foxtel will “continued focus on new product packages to broaden appeal and drive further growth”
In relation to Telstra’s standalone T-Box, there was a drop in premium PayTV customers, which was offset by growth in paylite customers.
Paylite revenue grew from bundling T-BOX. 168,000 T-BOXs sold this FY; 512,000 sold to date.
