The Always Be Watching newsletter is currently published out of Brisbane, Australia (home of Bluey and the Heeler family). Each day I see a mix of two different types of stories: There’s all the big industry news coming out of the US, an industry being reshaped as it contracts and shifts from cable and broadcast dominance to a streaming-led future. The legacy companies (think NBC Universal, Paramount Global, and Warner Bros Discovery) are feeling the squeeze thanks to the tech giants (Google, Netflix, and Amazon).
What a great piece about the decline of Foxtel Sam Buckingham-Jones wrote in the AFR.
VICE went out of business slowly and then extremely fast as they say. There were articles being written about them all the time. And not good ones. And suddenly one day it's all over.
I'm being a bit dramatic but if Foxtel keeps losing 10% of their traditional pay TV subscribers a year and going on cord cutting in the US this has a tendency to accelerate. How can they raise prices on Binge and Kayo when they will lose HBO and live sports rights become harder and more expensive to come by?
In my eyes if they are pegging their future on Hubbl (the puck and TV) Foxtel's future ain't bright at all. I wouldn't buy the Hubbl puck or TV if Foxtel paid me. People say it's not for advanced users who like app stores and superior technology. I say hogwash. Just because you are a Foxtel customer doesn't mean you have to be stuck in the stone ages.
Will Foxtel wind down Foxtel Now/Go in favour of Binge/Kayo/Flash? It seems unlikely now they will release a Foxtel Go type app for Apple TV/tvOS now they have the Hubbl shitshow rolling. I quite like the Foxtel app for Samsung TVs/Tizen OS.
Apple/Google/Amazon/Roku and the TV manufacturers will all keep steamrolling ahead with new hardware and software updates for their devices. Meanwhile Hubbl will be tied to the dinosaur like traditional pay TV companies Comcast/Sky product roadmap. Foxtel don't seem to have much say or control for Hubbl.
I like Foxtel. Well probably because I am using my parents' Foxtel credentials on my Samsung smart TV Foxtel app and don't pay for it. If that stops I reckon I'd get Binge and Kayo. But anyway most people I know don't subscribe to traditional Foxtel. Some have Binge and Kayo. And from what I gather traditional Foxtel subscribers may be dying out (literally). It's very grim indeed Dan! Haha.
What a great piece about the decline of Foxtel Sam Buckingham-Jones wrote in the AFR.
VICE went out of business slowly and then extremely fast as they say. There were articles being written about them all the time. And not good ones. And suddenly one day it's all over.
I'm being a bit dramatic but if Foxtel keeps losing 10% of their traditional pay TV subscribers a year and going on cord cutting in the US this has a tendency to accelerate. How can they raise prices on Binge and Kayo when they will lose HBO and live sports rights become harder and more expensive to come by?
In my eyes if they are pegging their future on Hubbl (the puck and TV) Foxtel's future ain't bright at all. I wouldn't buy the Hubbl puck or TV if Foxtel paid me. People say it's not for advanced users who like app stores and superior technology. I say hogwash. Just because you are a Foxtel customer doesn't mean you have to be stuck in the stone ages.
Will Foxtel wind down Foxtel Now/Go in favour of Binge/Kayo/Flash? It seems unlikely now they will release a Foxtel Go type app for Apple TV/tvOS now they have the Hubbl shitshow rolling. I quite like the Foxtel app for Samsung TVs/Tizen OS.
Apple/Google/Amazon/Roku and the TV manufacturers will all keep steamrolling ahead with new hardware and software updates for their devices. Meanwhile Hubbl will be tied to the dinosaur like traditional pay TV companies Comcast/Sky product roadmap. Foxtel don't seem to have much say or control for Hubbl.
I like Foxtel. Well probably because I am using my parents' Foxtel credentials on my Samsung smart TV Foxtel app and don't pay for it. If that stops I reckon I'd get Binge and Kayo. But anyway most people I know don't subscribe to traditional Foxtel. Some have Binge and Kayo. And from what I gather traditional Foxtel subscribers may be dying out (literally). It's very grim indeed Dan! Haha.