Foxtel isn’t a leader — It’s a follower
Foxtel is the leading cable television provider in Australia. The only other providers I know of are Optus TV and Austar — both of which broadcast almost the same exact content as Foxtel. From what I gather Optus TV is basically dead; leaving two providers for consumers to choose from.
While I was in high school I’d visit friend’s homes and many of them had either Foxtel or Optus TV. I’d be a little jealous because of channels like the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and The Comedy Channel.
In August, 2005, I discovered podcasts in iTunes. There were only a few hundred available, but I still found some that peaked my interests. Regardless, I still wanted cable TV.
In November, 2005, — a year after I finished high school — our family got Foxtel. At that time of the year they offer tempting holiday deals like a free Foxtel iQ (DVR) and I remember they were constantly displaying “From $14/mo” on their free-to-air advertising. My sister and I said we’d pay $5/wk to our parents because we’d be watching it most. That little deal fell through within the first couple of months. 
Side note: I’ve visited the United States plenty of times and been in awe of the hundreds of channels they have available on cable television. This was probably another reason why my sister and I wanted Foxtel.
It’s now been four years since we installed Foxtel. While I was away in America during 2008/2009 our family got a Foxtel iQ2 (HD DVR) and an HDTV to watch all the lovely HD content on. I was pretty impressed with the new free-to-air digital HD channels available, plus a few of the Foxtel channels are in HD too — the majority if them you have to pay extra for; lame.
When I think of pay TV I think of being able to receive any content I could ever want on my television. I’m a little surprised that the majority of TV shows I was is first aired on free-to-air TV. These are shows such as LOST, Heroes, The Office, and Supernatural. I assume they have some kind of deal with the American networks that only allows the shows to be first aired on free-to-air.
I assume this because many of the shows are aired in Australia sometimes months after they’re premiered in the USA. Let’s rewind to when The O.C. was on free-to-air television. When it was pretty popular it aired on Channel 10 at least seven months after it aired in the United States. My sister informed me that it originally aired a couple years before that on a different channel, but it wasn’t popular enough, so it was axed from Australian television.
As the show became increasingly popular Australians would want to see the new season earlier, so they would find them online. At one point I remember new episodes were on YouTube the same say they were aired on American television. That’s where I watched them. The last season of The O.C. was aired on Australian television the same week as it was aired on American television. This meant they were aired on Thursday in the USA, and the following Tuesday in Australia. That wasn’t good enough; I still watched the episodes on YouTube.
I digress.
This wasn’t meant to be about Australia’s crappy lag in content/technology; it’s about Foxtel.
I was stunned to hear that my family is paying around $80 per month for Foxtel. That’s more than I pay for TPG’s ADSL2+ 100GB/mo plan ($50). Granted, my parent’s business pays $100/mo for Bigpond’s (owned by Telstra which owns 50% of Foxtel) 25GB/mo plan. I’m trying to change that though.
I watch 90% of content I consume at my computer. Accessed online. Content from Viddler, Revision3, Mevio, etc. This way I can watch at almost the same time as my American friends, and understand what they’re all tweeting about regarding various shows. The only reason I’ll watch something on television is if I really want to see it on a bigger screen or save some bandwidth on my Internet usage.
Many of my blog posts are sparked by events in my life. In this case, the event is a letter my Dad received in the mail about price changes for Foxtel plans. I heard about these changes on Byteside, but I didn’t realise they were going to change existing customers to these plans. Click the image to see a large copy of the letter.
I’ll assume you’ve read the letter.
Confused? So am I! If you say you’re going to offer us some discount and make a mistake, then deal with it. Don’t confuse the minds of your customers. A couple dollars either way in our contract can make a difference in the long run. Does Foxtel seriously think customers that are “enjoying a $5 discounted iQ offer” are going to deal with such a poorly written letter?
This is what it reads like to us: Oh, we wanted to save you money, but we realised we’re already doing that, so we regret that we have to charge you more.
In a day and age when companies are connecting with their customers via Twitter, Facebook, Viddler, and other networks to assist with problems and turn negative feedback in to positive feedback, you’d think that Foxtel would end a letter like the one we received with something along the lines of: We’re sorry for any confusion. To make it up to you we’re going to keep everything the same. What you paid a month ago is what you’ll pay for next month.
Okay, would you like to know why Foxtel isn’t a leader? (I’m glad you made it this far. :))
They’re not innovating.
- They have a Twitter, but they only started using it on November 6th, 2009. Most of the tweets are just about upcoming shows. I’ll just assume that the lack of @replies is because any Australians that use Twitter aren’t having any issues with their Foxtel service.
- The majority of their website’s home page is in Flash, and there’s no mobile/iPhone-friendly option.
- They now offer some of their content available for download on a computer. This is new to Foxtel, but this isn’t new to the industry. Allow everything (on a user’s respective plan) available for download for at least TWO WEEKS after it airs. That would be smart. I don’t care if the television studios don’t like it. (The Chasers War on Everything has been available as a free podcast for years).
- There’s no iPhone/iPod Touch app. There should at least be an app that allows you to see what’s on your iQ and see a schedule for the next week which you can choose to record a single episode. Of course, search would be a must. Innovating would be allowing all the content you can see on TV on your iPhone, and access to stream the content stored on your iQ. From anywhere in the world. Slingbox anyone?
That’s not a wishlist. That’s what Foxtel needs to do to still be in the game. I’ve suggested to my Dad that we get rid of Foxtel because I only use it to watch re-runs of That 70s Show, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Seinfeld, and throw in the occasional documentary. I can see that stuff anytime I want. If you think about it, we could spend the money we spend on Foxtel for a larger Internet cap and just use a proxy to access Hulu, or download shows in HD from iTunes.
Honestly, a MacMini + Wireless N + The Internet is looking like a really good option right now.
So, Foxtel, what are you going to do to keep my/our interest? Show me something I haven’t seen.
Foxtel on Apple Tablet? Yes, please.
