Foxtel buys Seven out of Presto as it prepares to shutter service
Pay-TV service Foxtel has reportedly bought partner Seven West Media out of its struggling streaming joint-venture with Presto, as it prepares to cease the service.
The SVOD service, launched to take on the likes of Netflix and Nine’s Stan, has struggled to gain traction in market and lags behind those services in terms of subscribers.
A statement to the Australian Securities Exchange from Seven (ASX:SWM) confirmed the move adding that Presto subscribers Foxtel will get access to the Foxtel Play offering, which will be lowered to $10 per month, by the end of the year. Presto will be shut down on January 31.
Peter Tonagh, Foxtel CEO, said in the statement: “It has been great working with the team at Seven on Presto and we look forward to future collaborations. We are delighted to be able to offer Presto subscribers access to the new look Foxtel Play, which we know will be highly attractive to them.”
Foxtel Play allows people to subscribe to receive Foxtel channels online on a monthly basis, with the price scaling up and down depending on the level of package people take.
However Seven will continue to create content for the platform until shutdown with two new Home & Away specials, which have traditionally performed strongly for the platform, slated for the end of the year.
The move will be a boost to Nine’s Stan platform which is fighting for subscribers against global giant Netflix, and could also open up a slew of new rights for the rival platforms to bid on in the SVOD space.
The ASX statement in full:
Foxtel and Seven West Media today announced that Foxtel will acquire Seven West Media’s interest in the Presto TV joint venture.
Tim Worner, CEO and Managing Director, Seven West Media, said: “We look forward to continuing to work closely with Foxtel, in particular in the creation of new programming content.”
Peter Tonagh, Foxtel CEO, said “It has been great working with the team at Seven on Presto and we look forward to future collaborations. We are delighted to be able to offer Presto subscribers access to the new look Foxtel Play, which we know will be highly attractive to them.”
From December 2016, Presto customers will be able to access the new Foxtel Play product.
Presto will cease on 31 January 2017.
Presto and Foxtel Play subscribers will have exclusive Australian access to two new Home and Away specials to be released this summer. The production of these Home and Away specials underlines the ongoing partnership between Foxtel and Seven West Media on content production for new consumer services.
And then there was two.
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The new Foxtel Play won’t be like Netflix or Stan, it’s still going to be a linear type service with advertisements and probably still shown in Standard Definition only wrapped in a new package
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As expected. In a market the size of Australia, there is really only room for one winner and one strong challenger brand. Happens in every category — cars, jobs, real estate etc. And Fairfax/Nine have to their credit done a much better job on marketing, programming and product with Stan, then Foxtel/Seven did with Presto.
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Australians don’t like paying for content unless it’s really cheap and really good.
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Any new product should probably start by understanding who the audience is and what they want. As per David Henselin, all ads and no content in new branding and standard def won’t revive Foxtel product. The audience has moved on
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Despite being a long term customer, FOXTEL never clearly explained to me what Play/ Go/ Anytime/ Presto were and why I needed them. While they were sorting out their offering I got a Smart Tv, Netflix and disconnected Foxtel.
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Looks like $10 will get you all the crap, with adverts in it, and you will need to spend at least $35 to get anything decent. Foxtel Play will never be cheap because it will undermine it’s cable business. It’s business model is dead.
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Very disappointing. Presto has exclusive HBO stuff like Sopranos and Curb your enthusiasm that Stan and Netflix don’t offer
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