When Foxtel launched its IPTV service on Xbox last year, they promised that they were looking at different ways to get their internet content out to a diverse range of customers. It looks like that plan has moved into phase two, with the Pay TV operator announcing they’ll be offering 30 channels of content through the Telstra T-Box from May this year.
While Foxtel haven’t confirmed exactly what channels are included, they have said the offering will include “30 of some of FOXTEL’s best channels – including FOX8, Discovery, FOX SPORTS PLAY, Movie One and Showtime Premiere”, which sounds very similar to the Foxtel on Xbox service lineup. They’ve also confirmed that there will be a wide range of catch-up TV and movie content.
One of the benefits of having the service available on T-Box is that it will be unmetered for Telstra BigPond customers.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the announcement was this little nugget towards the end:
Telstra BigPond will also become FOXTEL’s preferred internet service provider and extend unmetered FOXTEL via broadband content for BigPond ADSL and cable customers to other Telstra supported devices. More Telstra supported devices, including IPTV-enabled televisions, will be announced in the months ahead.
That sounds a lot like Foxtel will be coming to LG and Samsung IPTV TVs (and potentially others) in the coming months as well. Does that mean that 2011 could be the year IPTV actually manages to deliver on its promise? We hope so…
[Telstra]
Jack
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2:02 PMDoes this mean that they will also be unmetering the Xbox service? That’s the only thing that’s been holding me back…
Nick Broughall
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2:03 PMPretty sure they already are:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/11/are-bigpond-offering-foxtel-on-xbox-as-unmetered-content/
wsDK_II
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:41 PMFoxtel on XBOX over a bigpond connection is unmetered to bigpond customers :D
Telstra wins again :P
Brett
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2:43 PM“The service will be available in metropolitan areas where FOXTEL subscription services are already available.”
Sounds like they don’t want to compete with Austar (i.e. in regional areas which don’t have cable). No good reason for that other than protecting Austar’s inflated pricing.
blah
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2:51 PMI’ve ask bigpond about unmetered Foxtel on Xbox and they said it isn’t. Maybe I just got a guy that didn’t know.
Ben Deroverlap
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2:57 PMWhat i want to know is this going to be available to all telstra adsl2 customers, even if im not in a foxtel area.
Nick Broughall
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:11 PMNever is my guess. Foxtel only has the license to transmit in certain areas (Austra has different areas I think), and that licensing issue is what restricts their IP offering. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/11/why-you-cant-get-foxtel-on-xbox-outside-foxtel-broadcast-areas/
Chewy Bravo
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:51 PMTelstra Tbox is the cheapest and nastiest piece of crap i have ever used. The remote only works when it feels like it. even after changing the battery after one month of use it died again a couple of weeks later. Dont let this entice u to try it, its not worth the trouble
Gonzalo Novoa Pozo
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 2:09 PMLawl, the original remote was pretty bad, if u have a remote with a single battery, then that’s the dodgy one. Call support and they replace it if you’ve covered the basic troubleshooting.
shell
Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 3:02 PMWhat a load of crap. They just send you another T Box with a remote, and suprise, suprise it doesn’t work either! Some I have recieved are clearly new while others have no protective wrap or ties on cords and are clearly T BOXes that other customers have returned that don’t work.
Getting a new remote is as likely as getting a T BOX that works.
Paul McManus
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 8:44 PMOh yeah … I read about that on Twitter http://twitter.com/TboxAus