Surf’s up for Fuel TV

Last year it was heralded as “monumental”, that is the broadcast deal with former 24/7 FTA Sports channel, ONE HD, which saw it broadcast the Gold Coast’s Quicksilver Pro surfing event on free-to-air TV for the first time ever. How things change in twelve months. This year’s event will not be broadcast live on free-to-air. The lack of a… Continue reading Surf’s up for Fuel TV

Preview: 24/7 Footy about to become reality

With the AFL’s NAB Cup preseason competition beginning this Friday it is an opportune time to look at how this competition and the home & away season will be covered following last year’s record A$1.2 billion media rights deal. To watch matches this year and beyond, AFL fans will be spoilt for choice across free-to-air, subscription-TV,… Continue reading Preview: 24/7 Footy about to become reality

Revenue grows ahead of FOXTEL’s big year

FOXTEL yesterday announced a jump of 5.1% in subscription revenues for the six months to 31 December 2011. This result was off the back of solid improvements in the take-up of FOXTEL products by FOXTEL customers including FOXTEL’s iQ, multiroom and high definition digital offerings. This is a good result for FOXTEL in a tough retail environment… Continue reading Revenue grows ahead of FOXTEL’s big year

Superbowl TV ratings tell a tale for Aussie Broadcasters

Last week Frost Global published an article about the lack of HD broadcasting of sport on free-to-air TV in Australia, especially since the rebranding last year of ONE HD to simply ONE. Yesterday the SUPERBOWL XLVI was broadcast in Australia LIVE on TEN, ONE and through FOXTEL/AUSTAR on ESPN. According to the MediaWeek Morning Report and OzTAM, a total of 268,000 people watched… Continue reading Superbowl TV ratings tell a tale for Aussie Broadcasters

AUSTAR seeks to delay shareholder vote on FOXTEL

AUSTAR has today announced that it will seek court approval to postpone its Shareholder Meetings relating to the proposed acquisition of AUSTAR by FOXTEL until the end of March 2012.   AUSTAR is seeking this request to allow more time for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to finalise its review of the transaction. On… Continue reading AUSTAR seeks to delay shareholder vote on FOXTEL

A Local Version of Hulu is Needed

We reported earlier in the year that leading US online catch-up TV service HULU had applied for registration of its trademark in Australia, fuelling speculation of an Australian launch of the service some time in the near future. HULU is jointly owned by US media companies NBC Universal (Comcast), News Corporation & The Walt Disney Company and has around 260 partners… Continue reading A Local Version of Hulu is Needed

Kim Williams appointed as News Limited’s new CEO

FOXTEL Chief Executive Officer Kim Williams AM has been appointed to the position of CEO of News Limited, the Australian division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. This comes after Mr Murdoch, News Corporation’s Chairman & Chief Executive announced today that current CEO & Chairman of the Australian unit (News Limited) of News Corp, John Hartigan… Continue reading Kim Williams appointed as News Limited’s new CEO

Digital Piracy reform on the Government’s Agenda

The time has come for action against digital pirates and it now seems that the Australian Government is willing to listen and more importantly help. A report in the Australian newspaper on Wednesday confirmed that the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has arranged a high level meeting next month with industry stakeholders to discuss potential new copyright laws in order… Continue reading Digital Piracy reform on the Government’s Agenda

Sky grabs F1 broadcast rights with the BBC from 2012

The UK sports broadcast market has just been shaken up. It was announced today that the BBC and BSKyB have jointly won the television rights from Formula One Management to broadcast Formula 1 in the UK starting next year and running until 2018. This is despite the BBC’s current contract running until the end of… Continue reading Sky grabs F1 broadcast rights with the BBC from 2012

Australia Network in extra time

  Reports in the Australian and the Australian Financial Review last week confirmed the government is failing to act on important regulatory issues affecting Australian television broadcasters. The first is the delay to pass the Anti-siphoning reforms that were first announced in December last year and second the delay to award the new Australia Network contract. Since this… Continue reading Australia Network in extra time