It’s been a while coming, but Telstra’s switching on Foxtel on T-Box for ADSL customers — but only for selected areas in NSW or Victoria. At the same time, it’s also launched an iPhone app for remote T-Box control.
Foxtel T-Box via ADSL was a promised update for Foxtel on T-Box when the service first launched. Telstra hasn’t yet updated its T-Box website to reflect the exact availability areas — it still thinks in terms of cable only — but the release notes that you can call 1300 136 841 to find out if your ADSL service is in an applicable area. I’ve asked Telstra for an exact list, and will update if they send it through. Sadly, as with Foxtel on Xbox, there’s no service for those in Austar areas.
Earlier in the week we received a highly speculative tip that suggested a tie-in with iOS for T-Box; while it most definitely didn’t plan out in the way our tipster suggested, there is an iOS link, as Telstra’s launched a T-Box remote control app that allows for channel selection and dynamic program information, including showing how far through each program you are at a given point in time. Shaking the remote will mute the screen (and this will activate if you quickly whip it up to your ear to take a call), and it’ll intelligently work out your subscribed services from the connected T-Box, only showing you the channels that you actually get. Telstra representatives told me yesterday that an Android version should be available next week, and there are future tablet plans that may involve video for Honeycomb tablets.
Telstra’s hoping that its acquisition of the IPTV rights to AFL will spark enthusiasm in the IPTV sector, and quoted research that suggests that 18 percent of Australians see IPTV as a necessary fixture in their home, and that 34 percent have an IPTV product of some style on their to-buy shopping list.