Foxtel and Optus reach new subscribers deal
Optus will start marketing Foxtel to its customers again after the two companies signed a new agreement on subscribers.
The move comes around two years since Optus stopped actively promoting Foxtel, and against a backdrop of a dramatic slowdown in subscriber growth for Foxtel which faces increasing competition from the new free to air digital channels and Internet-delivered TV services.
The new agreement will see Optus customers offered Foxtel’s HD services for the first time via the iQ HD settop box.
At present, Foxtel is offering 20 HD channels – a major point of difference to free to air, which has seen the main channels available only in standard definition since the launch of the secondary digital channels.
Optus will also be able for the first time to sell Foxtel via satellite where it does not have a cable network, in order to build bundled offerings to customers.
Foxtel CEO Kim Williams said, “The audio visual entertainment market is increasingly competitive with the arrival of terrestrial multichannels and new IPTV providers, and we welcome these agreements as they provide solid incentives for Optus to offer the full suite of Foxtel subscription services into the future.”
Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan said: “Foxtel has been a strategic partner and customer of Optus for many years and we’re pleased to be able to extend the breadth of Foxtel services we sell to our customers.”
The deal gets under way in Feburary.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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