Foxtel News

Australian broadcasting news

Foxtel channels revamp - October 2023

New logos and name changes come ahead of streaming aggregation platform.

Foxtel has refreshed a number of channel names, including dropping the “FOX” branding from numerous.

FOX Arena, and FOX Showcase are now reverting back to the original Arena and Showcase channel names, while there are changes also for Comedy, Docos, SciFi, Comedy, Classics, mystery channels etc.

FOX One will transform Foxtel One.

FOX8 remains but with a revamped logo.

The changes come ahead of the previously reported streaming aggregation platform based on Sky Glass -known in-house as Project Magneto.

A Foxtel spokesperson said, “As our business evolves, and as we leverage brands in new ways, we have refreshed some of our channel names to reflect this. There will be no impact to customers who will continue to enjoy all the great content and channels they are familiar with and love.”

The mini-deal that shows the Foxtel CEO is on a winning streak - 23rd July 2023

Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany can exhale a little. The pay TV company struck a deal last week with ESPN to continue as the local go-to broadcaster for top sport played in the United States.

Foxtel announced the deal on Wednesday morning with little fanfare and scant detail – issuing a press release which said the distribution deal was a “new multi-year” agreement to keep broadcasting the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and UFC in Australia. The release also carried a statement from Kylie Watson Wheeler, the local head of Disney, the parent company of ESPN.

When asked about the length of the deal, Foxtel said that even disclosing how many years it involved was commercial-in-confidence. But industry sources suggest the agreement was for about two years.

That’s a mini coup because the value proposition of Kayo – Foxtel’s sports streamer – hinges on having all key sport under one roof. The company signed a long-term deal with the AFL last year and now with the US sport, the NRL will be up next. As part of the announcement, Foxtel said Kayo now had 1.3 million subscribers.

Delany was able to secure a deal with Warner Bros Discovery-owned HBO earlier this year, which made sure Binge remains the home of Succession, White Lotus and Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon – for now.

Foxtel’s executives are on a streak, nailing down the most valuable content they licence, surely pleasing potential investors if they ever get around to the often-rumoured – and long-delayed – plans to list on the ASX.

But apart from the mammoth AFL deal, these agreements are hardly stable planks on the Foxtel ship. An agreement of about two years will give the company some breathing room. There have been fears among Aussie execs for years that the US media giants such as Disney and Warner Bros Discovery want to enter the Australian market with their own services, such as an ESPN-only streamer or HBO Max.

One reason the ESPN deal may have been detail-lite is because things are clearly shifting at Disney. In the past few weeks, Disney CEO Bob Iger has effectively put parts of the Magic Kingdom up for sale.

Iger set a cat among the pigeons at the annual Sun Valley conference, telling CNBC that he was reviewing parts of the business that were no longer “core” to Disney. That was largely seen as a concession that the veteran executive was looking to sell ABC, the legacy linear TV business. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Iger was looking at its options for ESPN, which may involve a “strategic partner” – potentially from a sports league.

(AFR)

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