Turnbull: The Coalition’s NBN Is More Of A Threat To Foxtel Than Labor’s NBN

Media markets have rapidly evolved since the proliferation of the internet as a form of content distribution, and now that both major parties are advocating high-speed broadband in the lead-up to the 2013 Federal Election, old-world content providers like Foxtel must be quivering in their boots. Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has fired a warning shot for traditional broadcasters, saying that the Coalition’s NBN plan should represent more of a concern than Labor’s NBN for Pay TV providers.

In a post on his blog challenging the Murdoch press’ ongoing campaign against the Australian Labor Party, Turnbull has said that Foxtel has more to be afraid of from the Coalition’s strategy than it does from the current Government’s plan for high-speed broadband via the NBN.

His reasoning? The Coalition’s plan will be complete by 2016, while the current Government’s NBN will be delivered by 2020. That means that Foxtel will face a challenge to its business model four years earlier than it would if the Labor party continued with its fibre to the home rollout.

As far as debunking speed concerns, Turnbull said that it’s not a big difference to content providers if a customer has 25Mbps download speeds (the Coalition’s promise) or 100Mbps (Labor’s promise): the average HD streaming video connection requires 6Mbps of bandwidth according to industry executives, meaning that customers will be streaming rich content like sports and movies — content that Foxtel prides itself on — sooner than they would if Labor stayed in power, further eroding its business model.

Check out the full post on Turnbull’s blog. [Malcolm Turnbull]


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