Competition watchdog will not oppose Seven buying into SVOD service Presto
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has today confirmed it will not oppose a move by the Seven Network to buy into streaming on demand service Presto.
The announcement comes three months after Seven West Media announced it was signing on to Foxtel’s streaming service agreeing to put its TV programming into the service from this year.
“The ACCC determined that, following the proposed acquisition, the Presto Entertainment service would continue to face strong competition from other SVOD services such as Stan (a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax) and Netflix, which has announced it will launch in Australia this month,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.In its investigation the ACCC looked at whether the combined involvement of major pay-TV provider Foxtel and the first-placed free-to-air network Seven would give the Presto service an advantage over its SVOD competitors.
Richard Freudenstein, Foxtel CEO, said: “We have big plans for Presto Entertainment to be a leading player in the SVOD space and are excited we can accelerate plans for Presto TV with our partners Seven West Media now that the ACCC has given their consent to our joint venture.”
“Presto TV is an important part of the Foxtel suite of entertainment services we offer consumers which includes the full service Foxtel cable or satellite product, the IP-delivered Foxtel Play and the recently launched Foxtel Broadband product.”
Seven West Media CEO,Tim Worner, echoed the sentiments in a statement arguing the synergy would be important.
“We are up and running with Presto,” he said. “We have great partners in Foxtel. The combination of the leader in subscription television and the leader in broadcast television – coupled with our strengths in content creation – delivers a compelling offer to our audiences on Presto. Our future is our content and our ability to deliver that content anywhere anytime on any device to our audiences.”
Today the service also announced it was launching a 30 day free trial of its TV and movie bindle as it looks to take on rival Stan, which is said to be on course for 100,000 sign ups by mid-March.
Nic Christensen
