First full IP play for Foxtel, 30 channels and “fabulously affordable”.
Also at the Microsoft Open House event, executive director of Foxtel Patrick Delaney got up and demonstrated the client application for Foxtel on Xbox 360. We’ve known this was coming for quite some time, with the announcement made all the way back on May 20, but this was a chance to see the interface in action.
Delaney noted that the Xbox 360 approach meant that this particular Foxtel variant will be the company’s first play in the pure IP space, although he assured the crowd that it’ll run “really well” on a connection as slow as 1.5Mbps.
As you might expect, the interface is much more Xbox 360-centric than it is Foxtel branded, with the Foxtel option appearing in the display much like any other service.
It’ll come with VOD features as well as an EPG, although the interface on display only gave a two-day EPG, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for future planning. Hopefully that’ll be rectified on full launch.
Movies will feature suggestions of similar titles you might like. For example here, it’s suggested that if you liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you might like Star Trek or Terminator: Salvation. Hang on – did anyone like Terminator: Salvation?
What about pricing? Well, Delaney did note that the fact that they didn’t have to pay or maintain set top boxes with the Xbox 360 solution saved them some cash, so there’s hope for cheaper Foxtel. Back in May, all Foxtel would say on the record was that it would be “affordable”, and today they upgraded that to “fabulously affordable”.
In further questioning it was suggested that they should have formal pricing announcements to make in October.