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As Illegal Netflix Takes Off Foxtel Gives Up Despite Heavy Lobbying

By David Richards| 12 Mar 2014

Display, Industry


	The Australian’s owner, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp., is a 50 percent owner of Foxtel, which claims to have been financially affected by the thousands of Aussies absconding to the US-based Netflix. That’s understandable, given the difference in fees: US$7.90 a month for Netflix, against as much as 10 times that for Foxtel. Netflix is not licensed to supply its online content to Australia, but it is not unlawful for Aussies to subscribe if the US company will allow it, or is willing to turn a blind eye to where its subscriptions are coming from. The Australian has estimated that Netflix has between 50,000 and 200,000 subscribers in the local market. Foxtel, which is launching another movie-streaming service, Presto, this week, said Netflix in the past had taken measures to stop unlicensed use of its content and there was no reason this could not occur again. “At the very least they could make it much more difficult to get around the system than they do,” Foxtel director of corporate affairs Bruce Meagher told the newspaper.

About Post Author

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.