The US media giant who might be placed to take a swing at an Australian TV acquisition
Australian SVOD services aren’t keeping up with the growth in US subscription services.
The 2025 Telsyte survey (leaked to the AFR and not yet available for the public to read) has found:
Netflix now has 6.4 million Australian subscribers, up 3 per cent on a year ago, while Amazon Prime Video is an increasingly close second at 5.1 million after growing 6 per cent, according to a major annual study and survey of subscription behaviour. Disney+ also rose 6 per cent to 3.3 million, while Stan was flat at 2.6 million.
Apparently the average household budget for video streaming services jumped by 18 per cent year-on-year to $42 a month.
By the metric I often use, around 30 years ago I used to rent out two new releases at the video store every weekend. At $7 each, I was spending $56 a month on video rentals alone… Again, this was 30 years ago.
Sam Buckingham-Jones at the AFR also reports that over one million Australians are subscribed to an ad-free YouTube tier.
This graph shows Australian subscription services as of June 2025. One presumes that HBO Max (which launched at the end of March) is included in ‘Other.’ I’ll be interested to see what HBO Looks like when broken out into next year’s report.
Speaking of Australian streaming… Peacock?
With a plan announced last week to merge TV broadcaster Seven West Media with radio network Southern Cross Austereo, it was also quietly announced that current SWM Chairman Kerry Stokes would be stepping down early next year.
This caught the attention of some in the industry who are now asking whether NBC Universal might be interested in taking another go at a partnership with the newly combined entity following failed negotiations a few years back.
From Steve Jackson in The Australian:
Industry sources revealed Seven West Media spent months locked in negotiations with the global news and entertainment media giant three years ago about a prospective partnership that would see the nation’s then most-watched commercial network take carriage of NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service in Australia.
One executive familiar with the situation told The Australian the “high-end discussions” ultimately collapsed after NBCUniversal set strict limits on the level of influence SWM chairman Kerry Stokes would be able to exert over the proposed partnership if the deal were to go ahead.
“NBCUniversal said that to make it work, Stokes would have to reduce his holding in Seven West Media to 20 per cent and that the company would need to replace him with an independent chairman,” the Seven source said.
“That was a deal-breaker for NBCUniversal and a deal-breaker for Stokes and Seven too – and it effectively knocked the whole thing on the head.”
With Stokes ownership stake reduced to 20% through the merger, NBCU has what it was asking for.
This opens the door to a potential acquisition by NBCU and a possible push to chase the NRL football rights. A lot of this sounds fanciful, but everything is fanciful until it isn’t anymore.
I’d point out that potential M&A activity that made sense in 2022, particularly in the TV broadcast space, doesn’t necessarily hold in 2025.
I am both shaken and stirred
I was amused by this comment about the new cover art for the Bond films, which have apparently just landed on Prime Video:
I’m genuinely confused by what is going on here. Is it a concern about glorifying guns? If that’s what is driving this, maybe they really need to be taking a look at the 007 logo seen on the very same cover art.
Beyond that… is there a good reason why the image has been removed? I appreciate that the depiction of guns can sometimes trigger issues on social networks and other platforms, but surely that’s not a problem on Prime Video.
Yeah, it stopped being good when Homer went to New York
There is nothing more boring than people complaining about how The Simpsons isn’t good anymore.
The Simpsons had an incredible run for eight seasons. From episode nine onwards (that season opened with The City of New York vs Homer Simpson), it stopped being reliably great. That was back in 1997. That means we are past 28 years of people complaining the show isn’t good anymore.
Here’s George Francis Lee writing for The Guardian:
Revealing yourself as a Simpsons fan comes with inevitable qualifiers: “Not the new episodes!” Most people want their favourite show to last as long as miserly TV executives will allow. Not me. I would gladly see The Simpsons sent to the knacker’s yard, rather than given a second movie, as was announced earlier this week.
Fans agree the show pales in comparison with the quality of its “golden era” – a period usually defined somewhere between seasons one through eight – where it had a mind-boggling roster of talent. With the likes of John Swartzwelder, George Meyer and Conan O’Brien, the show’s writers were masters of slice-of-life, absurdist, high- and low-brow comedy, often jumping between them in a single gag.
That’s 28 years, buddy. It’s time to move on.
News Desk
British actor Patricia Routledgehas died, aged 96. She was best known for Keeping Up The Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.
HBO Max in the US is dropping the CNN on Max livestream from November 17 with the new CNN digital product set to be the home for multiple CNN live news channels. That’s a Monday, so I'm assuming the new digital product launches on either November 17 or 18. Watch this space. Read: Variety
Bosch spin-off Ballard has been renewed for a second season at Prime Video. Read: Deadline
This week’s episode of Law & Order: SVU had a different ending depending on whether you watched it on Peacock or on NBC’s broadcast. Read: TV Line
Vice Principals actor Kimberly Hébert Gregory has died aged 52. Read: Deadline
In news everyone kinda knew was coming, Fox has cancelled The Great North after five seasons. Read: Dark Horizons
Trailer Park
27 Nights debuts on Netflix Oct 17.
When a woman is admitted by her daughters to a psychiatric clinic for her carefree ways, an expert must judge if she is ill or simply wants to enjoy life.
That’s the newsletter for today.
Consider becoming a paid supporter of Always Be Watching.
Connect with Dan on Bluesky. Connect with Dan on Letterboxd. Connect with Dan on Linkedin. Email Dan @ alwaysbewatching.com or just reply to this email.
