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Australian pay-TV and streaming giant Foxtel Group, majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Corp News, is optimistic about its bullish flow and now sees itself as a disruptor, management said on a strategy day for analysts Thursday.
“Our focus on growth through streaming, through improved and attractive interfaces and securing long-term sports and entertainment rights has put the company on a markedly upward trajectory,” said the CEO of News Corp , Robert Thomson, at the event, which aired for investors. . “The business is booming.
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delaney said the launch of new ‘disruptive’ streaming products has allowed the company to target new subscribers beyond traditional pay TV users, adding that more broadcast launches continuously would come over time. “We are now the disruptor of the Australian media industry,” he argued.
Since Fox Sports Australia’s 2018 merger with Foxtel, News Corp has a 65% stake in the company, with telecoms company Telstra holding the remainder.
Thomson said that since then Foxtel has “transformed the business” and created “Australia’s fastest growing streaming company”. He added that “the rise of streaming is successfully reorienting and monetizing existing rights” and reaching customers “that we previously couldn’t reach via cable or satellite, or people who maybe couldn’t get their way. allow Foxtel ”.
And he said: “We have decisively debunked the myth that only a small proportion of the Australian population will pay for programming. Thomson’s conclusion: “There is a new narrative at Foxtel: it is a story of rejuvenation, resurgence and rebirth.
Delaney touted the company’s targeted streaming services, noting that sports streamer Kayo Sports had around 1.1 million subscribers at the end of June and entertainment service Binge, which offers movies and TV series, had approximately 830,000 users. He also touted the imminent launch of the live and on-demand Flash “information aggregation service”.
Overall, Foxtel has 4 million total subscribers and wants to increase that number to over 5 million over three years, Delaney said.
Amanda Laing, Director of Commerce and Content, highlighted the company’s relationship with Hollywood and the entertainment industry at large, saying, “Foxtel is Australia’s partner of choice for studios and sports.
She also touted the importance of offering drama series, including The walking dead, Succession and the next Game of Thrones prequel Dragon house, before interviewing star power interviewing Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The matrix) and Heather Mitchell who stars in a modern love-themed miniseries Love me, which is slated to air in 2022. Asked about Foxtel’s strategy of bringing shows from Hollywood and other parts of the world, while telling Australian stories, Weaving said that often the opinion is that “everything must point to the United States; it all has to be sort of mid-Atlantic, ”but he was very keen on celebrating local stories. “These are the stories we have to tell,” he said. “We must continue to prioritize our own culture. “
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