Well, it’s only taken forever, but Foxtel has officially made its play to take over rival payTV operator Austar.
Foxtel is offering $1.52 a share, and has the support of both Austar’s board and the company’s major shareholder, Liberty Global.
While Austar and Foxtel seem to be happy with the proposal, it’s still not guaranteed to happen, with the ACCC and the foreign investment review board needing to give the deal the thumbs up.
Should it go through, it could go a long way to satisfying unhappy customers unable to get Foxtel on Xbox, if nothing else…
[SMH]
Nath
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 11:37 AMI’d no idea they were different companies… Since they provide pretty much identical services I thought Foxtel serviced cities and Austar serviced regional areas.
Matt
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 2:09 PMThis. I honestly thought that was the only division.
Adam
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:39 PMThey are not identical at all Austar is a piece of crap
Simon Reidy
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 11:40 AMPlease once buying them, abolish the horrible Austar brand, their 2nd rate boxes, and make Foxtel available Australia wide.
Normandy
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 11:53 AMand then FOXTEL need to improve the content.. and we will all be fine….
Daniel
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 11:57 AMHuge synergies to be made in terms of cutting the cost of buying satellite capacity – Foxtel and Austar essentially double up at the moment pushing the same channels to the sky using twice as many transponders as they need.
I guess it will also mean goodbye to Irdeto encryption and third party boxes in the future :(
Greg
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 1:16 PMIncorrect – the channels are all simulcrypted for both platforms.
There is no doubling up.
Big Windows
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 12:28 PMSo in a very tight media market we are going to get even tighter and ownership is going to be down to a couple of major players with their own political agendas to push… WOOHOO for choise!
James
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 2:08 PMFor those of us that are not in a metro area we have no choice anyway. All I can get in Nth QLD is Austar – a cheaper, shittier version of Foxtel which I can’t access through my Xbox, with cheap and shitty boxes that like to freeze and restart, with shit menu interfaces that lag and freeze.
I would prefer being stuck with Foxtel anyday.
You can never have NO choice – you can choose to have or not have, pretty easy. Seems everyone feels they are owed a choice of options.
Frostwa
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 12:29 PMFoxopoly
Nodeity
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 2:28 PMAs a country resident, “Austar” is the only choice, and the packages are just awful! From what I can make out, “Foxtel” has much better packages, and a better box too. So personally I would love it if they merge…. I just hope the costs don’t escalate…
Daviesh
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 3:47 PMPlease let this sale go through and let Austar subscribers get:
* New channels the same time as Foxtel gets them
* IQ boxes instead of MyStar
As well as Foxtel on 360 outside Foxtel areas!!
Chris
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:19 PMDoes this mean Austar customers are going to be stuck with Foxtel ripoff pricing? Austar’s HD offerings might be a little fewer than Foxtel, but HD is $10/mth extra compared to something insane extra for Foxtel?
Adam
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:44 PMOne thing I notice is people that live in the city and have Foxtel complain that it will be a monopoly (even though this doesn’t affect them at all) and the people from the country that have Austar are all for it (including me)
It isn’t a monopoly because besides the Gold Coast they don’t operate in the same region at all, and Austar get provided with the shittest possible service.
Steve
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:49 PMCool(Austar sucks and can’t get Foxtel). One thing is for sure, this won’t be a monopoly and subscriptions should drop ~80% in the coming years.
Steve
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 7:59 PMDo people still care about cable? Isn’t the future all in streaming services like Netflix and Hulu?
Brock
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 10:59 AMYeah it may be the future, but you try streaming anything with a Satellite connection to the internet and no broadband in your area. That’s when services like Foxtel and Austar are a life saver for your fix of TV shows.
Chris
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 12:14 AMYou can’t be from Australia… Our poor excuse for Internet can’t handle streaming that well.. And if it can you can’t do anything else on the net at the same time
Caroma
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 4:09 AMwhy cant you lot get Foxtel in your areas? I live in the Pilbara of WA 1600km north of Perth and we get Foxtel via satellite.
Nodeity
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 7:37 AMStrange,.. Is Austar actually available in your area..
Chris
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 12:17 AMI think austar is only eastern state. That’s all I could get in cairns, now in perth and thought foxtel was just the same shit, turns out they are different. I did recently make a trip back and used a austar box and it was disgusting!! Took 2 mins to bring up tv guide and soooo delayed flicking through menus I now see why the austar community will be happy for this takeover haha
Stephen
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:08 AMFoxtel will always be relevant while it has the footy – the only thing that I would be interested in.
Cdog
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 11:14 AMIt’s foxtel only in wa. Foxtel does satellite aswell.