If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eventually Join 'Em: Foxtel Adding Netflix & Stan To Its Services

Australian pay-TV behemoth Foxtel seems to have finally fully embraced the streaming era (or almost, at least), announcing its intention to integrate platforms from rival services Netflix and Stan into its own set-top boxes.

As the Australian Financial Review reports, Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh made the concession today, saying that the company was taking steps to respond to customer sentiment about the scope of Foxtel's existing offering— "If our customers want to have Netflix, then they'll be able to have Netflix on our box," he said — though he says the move comes "not because there is a commercial benefit for us but because it provides a much better experience" for consumers.

"We intend with our next set-top box to have a much more open platform," he said.

Regardless, while not denying the changing landscape in which the company operates, Tonagh doesn't seem to buy into the rhetoric that streaming is an imminent threat to the viability of traditional television, citing statistics that indicate 77% of Australians are still watching TV "in the home, on a television set, in a linear fashion".

"If you add to that 77 per cent," he continued, "the amount that happens on catch-up, being recorded on Foxtel IQ, for example, that number goes up to 84 per cent."

"The idea that on-demand has taken over viewing is just not right," he said. "Don't get me wrong; I'm not a denier of the change that we're experiencing … But to think we need to give up on the core of our business — which is live, linear television — and shift to on-demand [is], I think, a mistake we would follow if we just listened to the commentators rather than listening to the customer."

Indeed, there does at least appear to be a genuine intention to respond to consumer feedback of recent times in these decisions; along with the inclusion of Netflix and Stan (which, being owned by Fairfax and Nine, is an especially direct competitor to the Foxtel/Seven-owned Presto), the company will also be re-evaluating its pricing scheme for its online Foxtel Play service after vocal opposition from customers "that have been quite loud telling us recently that they're not able or willing" to pay current prices for the privilege, which start from $25 a month for the most basic package.

"We'll relaunch [Foxtel Play] with much cheaper entry prices, with entry packages from as low as $10 or $15 a month," Tonagh explained, reiterating that the change is an effort to "deliver what the customer is asking for".

According to AdNews, there is no projected time frame for when we might see these changes take effect, or what the ultimate impact will be in consumer terms, though a Foxtel rep told the site that the initial plan "is to be open to other services … [and] to eventually have a similarly open platform for future versions of our iQ set-top box".