Foxtel has a special announcement coming this week. How special? Special enough for Foxtel to make an announcement about the impending announcement!
The much-anticipated streaming drama package will launch in just a week on May 25. However Foxtel is not confirming the name of the service (that many think will be called Binge) until later this week.
Other details to be revealed late this week include the pricing packages and confirmation of content, including expected new Australian commissions.
Foxtel has revealed that the service will offer more than 10,000 hours of the best local and international drama and movies.
Foxtel has also revealed that the content will be powered with an extensive collection of drama and movies from Warner Bros, HBO, HBO Max, Sony, NBCU, FX and the BBC.
While the remaining details about Project Ares/Binge will be revealed Foxtel’s head of Kayo Sports, Julian Ogrin, Foxtel Group chief executive officer Patrick Delany said: “There has been a lot of speculation about our new streaming service and its name, and we are pleased to finally be ready for the big reveal to Australia this week.
“We have been beta-testing the service for a few weeks and we are sure Australians will love everything about it. It brings an exciting new brand to younger streaming audiences with a very different and compelling product experience, and a distinctly curated mix of the best drama and movies from the world’s best entertainment brands.
“The launch will be another milestone in the Foxtel Group’s strategy to transform ourselves and bring our unparalleled catalogue of entertainment and sports to even more viewers in Australia. Our goal is to consolidate our position as Australia’s preeminent subscription television and streaming provider.
“The foundation of our business is our Foxtel subscription television service which provides 2.5 million loyal customers with the complete premium experience – the best of TV and on demand all in one place.
“Foxtel is built around our advanced iQ3/4 set top boxes which bring together, all in one place, an unrivalled range of the world’s best drama, lifestyle, movies and sport, free to air television together with apps such as Netflix, ABC iview and SBS On Demand. Foxtel offers over 100 live channels and our complete range of premium on demand content and box sets, with Ultra HD and the ability to record.
“Our growth engine is in streaming. It includes Kayo Sports which has grown rapidly and is expected to resume subscriber growth when live sports restarts later this month with COVID- 19 restrictions easing.
“Our new entertainment streaming service, which launches next Monday, provides a different curation of the Foxtel Group’s entertainment content focussed on mobile devices and the streaming generation who want to share on the big screen. [The new service] is distinctly branded and aimed at part of the Australian market who either don’t want to pay for our premium product or who have decided Foxtel is not for them.
“Across the depth and breadth of the Foxtel Group’s sport, news, lifestyle and general entertainment content is Foxtel Media which sells advertising and sponsorship executions. The Foxtel Group’s iQ3/4s and the growth in on demand and streaming content adds to our data capability and provides Foxtel Media with more forward looking advertising assets than ever before.
“At the same time, we are making progress in right-sizing and modernising our cost base. For example, through continuing centralisation and technologies that allow us to drive greater automation and digitisation in the business. These changes have been painful at times but necessary to ensure we are ahead of the curve on costs to weather the significant impacts of COVID-19 and be better placed to compete in the future.”