Foxtel has announced the launch of Foxtel First, a new loyalty program based on the principle that the longer a customer has been with Foxtel, the better their Foxtel First experience will be.

At a launch event inside the board room at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany noted in times of massive choice it is as crucial to keep existing customers as it is to attract new ones.

Presenting alongside the Foxtel boss yesterday were Alice Mascia, Foxtel chief product and strategy officer, and Lisa Johnstone, Foxtel director – loyalty.

As one of the first tenure-based loyalty programs in Australia, Foxtel First does not involve collecting points or spending more, it rewards loyalty based on four levels of continuous customer tenure:

Bronze (0-3 years)
Silver (3-8 years)
Gold (8-15 years)
Diamond (15+ years)

Each level automatically unlocks exclusive categories of benefits that get better the longer a customer has been with Foxtel. Rewards provide the opportunity to see some of Foxtel’s most popular content first, access to event tickets and competitions for money-can’t-buy experiences and enjoying the very best that Foxtel First has to offer. Current rewards, based on customer tenure, include:

Experiences – tickets for sports events and cinema, a Foxtel First welcome gift along with competitions for money can’t buy experiences. This includes thousands of free tickets to Australia’s most popular sporting events this summer including Cricket, A-League and the Australian Grand Prix. And prize draws for experiences that only Foxtel can deliver such as an exclusive meet and greet for a family with the stars of Paw Patrol at Sea World including flights and accommodation.

Viewing – exclusive on demand, advance access to some of Foxtel’s best drama, entertainment, movies, lifestyle and documentaries.
Product – more value from Foxtel with exclusive offers on services such as free multiroom set up and discounted iQ4 set up.
Service – the best service and overall experience from Foxtel with a free Foxtel iQ4 set up and priority customer service.

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany with Alice Mascia, Foxtel chief product and strategy officer

Delany said: “The launch of Foxtel First is about recognising our customers’ loyalty based on how long they have been with us.  It delivers customers more value through experiences and benefits which only get better the longer they have been with us.

“We have sourced great rewards for our customers through our network of partners across sports, cinema, music and TV. We’ve also lined up our best technology and priority service for our most loyal customers to make sure they are experiencing the best of Foxtel.

“The great thing about Foxtel First is it’s free to join and this is only the beginning. Foxtel First will continue to grow with more benefits and more rewards to be added in the coming months.”

One of the rewards for Diamond customers is quality of service. “You shouldn’t have to wait in a queue,” Delany told Mediaweek about customers who ring the call centres. “There will be a special unit setup and when a Diamond level member rings in it will detect the caller and they will get put straight through.”

Delany likened it to the Chairman’s Club for privileged Qantas flyers. “But this is based on tenure, not how much the company pays the airline.”

There is also an obvious answer as to why Foxtel loyalty is not rewarded by price breaks: “The business objective for Foxtel is to keep the revenue up. We have had a tough time with that principally because of the repackaging that was done in 2014 with $25 and $50 customers. We have now moved the opposite way and added more and more value with $50 and $75 and $100 packages. There is huge value if you are platinum because that now includes Netflix.

“What we are doing with Foxtel First it to reward and acknowledge that.

“If a customer has been with us for 15 years somebody will call them and say ‘We have a new set top box, when can we come out and upgrade you? And when can we give you the new remote?’

“We are trying to maintain the revenues, but add far more value.”

iQ3 and iQ4 upgrades

Foxtel customers on iQ3 and iQ4 have this week been getting notices from the subscription TV platform telling about the upgrade that will give users the access to Netflix directly through the set top box.

“The new Foxtel packages now have Netflix at a price that is lower than Netflix retail,” said Delany. “For Platinum customers it is included. ABC iview and SBS On Demand are also included in our basic package.”

Netflix has been available for some time for many subscribers through the set top box, but Foxtel isn’t able to monitor the time spent on Netflix by those customers. “Netflix owns its customers and when they to into their app we lose that data reporting. We know when they have gone [from Foxtel], but we don’t know what they did.”

Delany isn’t too concerned about people using the Foxtel box to watch other TV platforms. “They are using our box which we want as we are putting everything in one place to make it easy.”

During his presentation Delany referred to the future launch of Foxtel apps. Later talking to Mediaweek he was reluctant to put any timeframe on it.

“We are working on stuff all the time. At the moment we want to bed in the ABC and SBS. They are not inconsiderable technology programs as they both have a huge amount of content.”

Kayo will remain a big focus for Foxtel across the summer, said Delany.

“The Kayo customer is very different to the Foxtel customer and they behave very differently and they watch different sports in different volumes and they come and go more which is the nature of streaming. What we are excited about is coming into the second cycle of Kayo because it launched in November last year. We know all the people who have come and gone from Kayo and we know exactly what they like and we can almost predict who is going to come back.

“The legend of Kayo builds as more people know about it and understand it.”

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Top Photo: Patrick Delany at the launch of Foxtel First

Nova Entertainment has made two major announcements today – one for each of its radio brands – Nova and smoothfm.

The announcements come just days after Nova Entertainment revealed a major new marketing campaign for Nova 969, the first big move under its new marketing boss Paul Jackson.

The marketing operations were folded into Jackson’s role as programming boss after the departure of Tony Thomas earlier this year.

The smoothfm announcement is that Robbie Williams will be the latest artist to feature in the series smooth’s Feel Good Night With. This exclusive showcase event is staged rarely with former guest artists Spandau Ballet and Michael Bublé.

The smoothfm partnership with Williams comes just three weeks before the much-anticipated release of his first ever Christmas release – the double album The Christmas Present. The new set will be divided into two parts – Christmas Past and Christmas Future.

smoothfm listeners will be given the chance to win tickets to the Williams performance which will be early in 2020.

The other major announcement this morning is that Nova’s ARIA Red Room event will again be returning for 2019. This year the Nova Red Room events will be presented by Mitsubishi. There will be six separate Nova Red Room events. Mediaweek reported on every showcase performance in ARIA Week last year, but this year it looks like a grueling schedule for people wanting to see every act this time.

Listeners will have the chance to attend Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week shows by listening to Nova network from Monday 4 November.

Dan Rosen, ARIA chief executive officer said, “ARIA Week is a brilliant way to extend the celebration of Australian music across November in the lead up to the ARIA Awards. I am thrilled to once again partner with Nova to showcase our incredible Australian talent at these very special gigs”.

Peter Charlton, Nova Entertainment’s chief commercial officer said, “It’s fantastic to have a brand of Mitsubishi’s calibre on board for Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week. The partnership between Nova’s Red Room, as our premium experiential music brand, and the ARIA Awards, arguably the most prestigious celebration of Australian music, is already a potent one that’s proven hugely popular with fans. We’re excited to now have Mitsubishi ASX in the mix alongside some of music’s biggest names for what’s shaping up to be our best year yet.”

Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week artists are Birds of Tokyo, Dean Lewis, Guy Sebastian, Illy, PNAU and Tones and I.

The schedule is:

Illy – Thursday 21 November – The Lair @ The Metro.
Guy Sebastian – Saturday 23 November @ The Factory Theatre.
PNAU – Monday 25 November @ The Factory Theatre
Dean Lewis & Birds of Tokyo – Tuesday 26 November @ The Factory Theatre
Tones and I – Friday 29 November – The Lair @ The Metro

Paul Jackson, now Nova Entertainment’s chief programming and marketing officer oversaw the launch of the new marketing campaign to reinforce Nova 96.9’s position as the leading music network and showcase the station’s on-air line up in Sydney, with a multi-platform campaign that launched on Sunday 27 October.

The high impact campaign focuses on Nova’s strategy to provide the “freshest hits, highlight the power of live entertainment and showcase the station’s strong and consistent on-air line up in Sydney”.

An evolution of the Love Nova TVC series, the new commercial brings to life Nova 96.9’s on air line up, Fitzy & Wippa, plus Smallzy and Kate, Tim & Marty, alongside some of the world’s biggest music artists.

For the first time the campaign features international stars Miley Cyrus and the Black Eyed Peas, and local artists Amy Shark and Guy Sebastian alongside returning artists Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Shawn Mendes and Chris Martin.

The marketing campaign will run across free to air television, out of home plus digital, social and cinema.

Jackson told Mediaweek the exclusive deal with Sony Music’s Robbie Williams was tied in with his worldwide return to the music scene. He noted that the ARIA Week strategy for the Nova Red Room shows has been to make them bigger every year as Nova throws its supports behind the artists, this time with six shows over five days this year.

“To be able to get Tones and I performing this year is amazing.”

smoothfm doesn’t have too many artists showcases, but Jackson said, “We want to make them special events that will really make people say ‘wow’. Robbie Williams will be one of those. I would like to think we might be able to do more of these, maybe as many as two or three a year. We have set the bar very high and we are only going to do household established names.”

As to being able to manage both the Nova Entertainment programming and marketing roles, Jackson told Mediaweek. “In my previous life in the UK both programming and marketing sat under the one remit. It will work fine here. I am getting a lot of pleasure out of being really close to both parts of the business. The music and the announcers are marketing to the audience every day.

“Everything we do externally now will be more connected than it’s ever been.”

Last week it was Macquarie Media CEO Adam Lang who was told his services were no longer required.

Yesterday it was the announcers and staff of the Macquarie Radio Sports business who were told that the game was up. All sports all the time, but not much longer.

Just three days in fact – all sport talk programs, which account for much of the time across the weekday and weekends, will case at 11pm Friday.

Sports broadcasting on radio is at the crossroads. While Crocmedia’s SEN Sports Radio appears to be thriving, the Macquarie Sports Broadcasting experiment has come to a grinding halt just 18 months after launching. In that time there was no glimmer that the shows were reaching an audience. The highest rating for the Sydney station in that time was just 1.1% with a low of 0.5% earlier this year. In the supposed sporting capital of Australia, the highest Melbourne share in that time was 0.4%. The breakfast show in that city, relayed out of Sydney, has been on 0.1% for most of this year.

Sydney’s other sports radio station, Sky Sports Radio, is without a breakfast show after the recent departure of Terry Kennedy.

Announcers at Macquarie Sports Radio have been having some fun on air after the decision to axe the brand was revealed yesterday. The Ox and Marko drive show yesterday hosted (a previously planned) segment about the correct way to sack people.

Macquarie Sports Radio breakfast with Jimmy, Piggy and Levy

Meanwhile the breakfast show with Mark “Piggy” Riddell and Mark Levy bounced on air this morning, claiming they were on their final farewell tour.

The drive show hosts were famously sacked from SEN in 2017. They both said yesterday they were showed some respect this time by Russell Tate and that Macquarie would be looking after them.

In a short statement yesterday, Russell Tate said:

“Macquarie Media Limited today announced that development of its Macquarie Sports Radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be paused and reviewed over the summer months and that the current schedule of sport talk programs will cease as of 11pm, Friday 1 November.

“Over the coming months, Macquarie Sports Radio will continue live sport broadcasts including all scheduled Test Match, BBL, One-Day Internationals & International T20 Cricket matches as well as its English Premier League coverage. The stations will draw an increased amount of content from local and international partners, including Macquarie Media’s News Talk stations and Nine, and will continue to access Macquarie National News services for constantly updated sporting news.”

There has been some speculation that Nine could be soon simulcasting some of its programs like the Today show.

Other sources have said Crocmedia could be running the numbers about using the frequencies to expand into the Sydney and Brisbane markets. It already broadcasts a separate signal into South Australia for the Adelaide market.

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Top Photos:  Marko and The Ox

Delany also defended Foxtel against a suggestion it might not be doing as much as it could for women in sports media.

Meadows yesterday responded to fans who were upset about her departure from the broadcaster.

“The past week has been challenging,” Meadows wrote in a letter she posted on social media.

“[But] this past 24 hours has been incredible. I can’t thank you all enough for the messages of support.”

After a spur of the moment off-season trip to Croatia, Meadows returned to the news that she would no longer be part of the Foxtel family.

“After 10 years in two cities, my time at Fox has come to an end,” she wrote. “I have had an incredible time with many sensational people.

“Doing boundary for both AFL and cricket this past year has been a dream come true, 20 years in the making.

“I love what I do for a living and grateful I get to do it. I’m not sure what’s next, which is scary but also exciting.”

On Ticker TV yesterday on Mediaweek on Ticker, anchor Ahron Young asked Mediaweek about women on Fox Sports and why it would let go a female host on a broadcaster dominated by men.

Meadows was also briefly part of Nine’s new-look AFL Footy Show launched during 2019

Later in the day Mediaweek posed that question to Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany.

“We have plenty of women on the network and from time to time people go,” he replied. “People don’t have jobs for life.”

As to the circumstances surrounding the decision not to renew Meadows’ contract, Delany said: “I don’t want to comment on the particular circumstances. But Foxtel and Fox Sports are not short of women or not giving women opportunities, it is quite the opposite.”

Finishing off her letter about her axing, Meadows said: “Thank you to all the players, coaches and administrators who trusted me to share their stories and all the people who chose to spend their time tuning in to watch.

“I’ve met some brilliant people and made some wonderful mates.”

Neroli Meadows

So far that social media post has been liked over 7,000 times, and generated 800 replies.

Among the comments were many from media colleagues, including Seven’s Melissa Doyle who is also facing an uncertain TV future after Seven shuttered her program Sunday Night.

Doyle commented: “You are a star. A knowledgeable, balanced, well researched, talented lovely star.”

The Australian’s cricket writer Peter Lalor commented: “Stunned and saddened. I’ve watched her work on cricket for over 10 years. Neroli is one of the best in the business. Hard working, smart and well connected. Breaks news. Gets great interviews. Knows footy and cricket inside out. This is terrible.”

Just last year Meadows was hosting two new shows on Fox Footy.

See also: Inside Neroli Meadows’s two new Fox Sports shows for the AFL season

The series is now a week away from being the outright record holder for 2019 and looks at short odds with no show closing the gap in a meaningful way this week.

The only real movement of note this week is by the sci-fi series Impulse which has made the Digital Original charts in NZ and is currently the only Youtube show to make it on the TV Demand charts in Australia or NZ. This comes after premiering the series 10 episode second season on October 16, 2019.

The series follows 16-year-old Henrietta Coles (Maddie Hasson) who has the ability to mentally move objects and teleport without control over her destination. The show explores her feelings about her powers which are triggered by her feelings of fear about past events.

The series is executive produced by Lauren LeFranc (also showrunner), Doug Liman, David Bartis, and Gene Klein.

Tuesday Week 44 2019 

• Seven News 922,000/884,000
• Nine News 782,000/842,000
• A Current Affair 738,000
• ABC News 593,000
• 7.30 469,000
• The Project 248,000/434,000
• 10 News First 313,000
• The Drum 146,000
• SBS World News 128,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 301,000
• Today 179,000

Seven

Home and Away did 578,000 after 624,000 on Monday.

Bride & Prejudice then did 467,000 after 458,000 on Monday.

A Tuesday episode of The Rookie did 299,000.

Nine

A Current Affair did 738,000 after 725,000 on Monday.

The Block continues to conquer most shows that are thrown up against it. The renovating format juggernaut clocked up just on 900,000 Tuesday to easily win the slot after 917,000 a week ago.

Love Island Australia then did 309,000 after 300,000 on Monday.

10

The Project then dropped well below half a million to 434,000 after 509,000 on Monday.

The second night of The Amazing Race saw the numbers slip to 522,000 after debuting on 635,000 on Monday. The nuns were eliminated at the end of the second episode which saw the teams travelling across South Korea.

One Born Every Minute Australia then did 338,000 after launching with 322,000 last week.

ABC

The return of Dream Gardens at 8pm did 300,000.

Price Charles: Inside the Duchy of Cornwall then did 343,000.

SBS

The final of Building Britain’s Canals did 261,000.

Insight then was on 210,000.