Fairfax Media, publisher of the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, has described Foxtel, which is 50% owned by Telstra, as a ‘crappy, repetitive, overpriced shake-down racket’.The description comes as the pay TV operator moves to gouge
more revenue by forcing fans of the HBO Game of Thrones series to subscribe to
their service which is more old repetitive content than fresh new movies or TV
series.
Already labelled as being one of the most expensive pay TV
services in the world, Foxtel has moved to stop consumers being able to pay for
a single episode via Quickflix or iTunes as they aired, instead they want consumers to fork out
hundreds of dollars a year for a Foxtel subscription.
Writing for Fairfax Media John Birmingham, “I don’t mind
going into the stocks and getting pelted with soft fruit and monkey poo for
telling people they should pay for Game of Thrones… But Foxtel, oh Foxtel. Being allied with you makes JB’s tummy feel sick. What were you thinking when
you decided it’d be a good idea to throw your monopoly power around and snuff
out the deal delivering freshly baked episodes of GoT via iTunes and Quickflix
to the millions upon millions of people who don’t subscribe to your crappy,
repetitive, overpriced shake-down racket?
The move by Foxtel to force consumers to pay a premium price
for content is backed by Telstra and News Ltd. who are both trying to use their
monopoly positions to corner the market for content. Foxtel who is now the
content negotiator on behalf of News Ltd. and Telstra has told content producers
and Hollywood studio’s that over time they “will be” the main
provider of content to Australian homes because of their ability to deliver
content to devices spanning smartphones, tablets, PCs and TVs.
Birmingham went on to say, “Oh, no, let me guess. You
figured that by removing a timely and legitimate method for viewers to watch
the show within a couple of hours of its US release, you would force a handful
of extra punters to take out one of your lousy subscriptions?
Well here’s a slow, sad little golf clap for you,
Foxtel.”
What you’re actually doing by trying to shore up your
monopoly is guaranteeing that a whole heap of viewers who ponied up good,
honest money to watch that series by a method other than membership of your
exclusive club are now more likely to sign up to channel Bit Torrent.”
