“Foxtel actually does exactly what it says it will do.”
Foxtel's CEO needs a new mantra, as this one is starting to look a bit creaky.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
“Foxtel actually does exactly what it says it will do,” says Foxtel CEO Kim Williams, in response to internet competitors who are looking to offer internet television.
This is a regular mantra of Foxtel’s CEO.
And while the Pay TV giant has made some terrific inroads with its technology the phrase doesn’t hold entirely true.
iQ2GO was promised by Williams for the first half of 2009.
Subscribers were promised a USB memory stick function that would allow them to transfer programmes from their iQ2 to their laptop.
“Why would you have a little player when you can have a stick that can go into any device?” Williams said at the time.
The iQ2 USB feature has been built into set top boxes from their launch, but yet to be activated.
There is still no word on when the iQ2GO will be available.
Foxtel also scores poorly on the Search function which was meant to be working in November 2009 as part of the Next Generation launch. It wasn’t until April that it began adding titles, after repeated enquiries from TV Tonight. It won’t be fully operational until August, and even then only with a 60 hour search capacity. It will fall way short of the two week Search functionality available online.
This is because Foxtel found itself with bandwidth issues following the launch of its extra channels.
And these points are without getting into Programming that has been promised and not delivered….
The repeated line about Foxtel doing “exactly what it says it will do” is really in need of a rewrite by Foxtel minders.
Source: The Australian
11 Responses
Wow Baggygreen if you are going to list a few things at least make them factual:
Sports Interactive was there for Years – infact, since the first year of digital. It only stopped when the HD channels came in, now its replaced by the Analyser. So get your facts right there
Also about the FTA – Fox have Never said that all subs will have FTA access. Never. What a load of rubbish you talk. If you have an issue with Perth and Adelaide’s lack to FTA and EPG, speak to the FTA channels themselves, not Fox, its the FTA channels decision to not be on the satellite. How many times do we have to tell people like you that?
Bit harsh really.The last 12 months there have been a lot of changes take place at Foxtel,and will continue to happen for the next 12 months and beyond.Plenty of these issues are so minor they can be rectified in other ways,so it’s not the end of the world
Problems with part recordings i have never had this problem,maybe there is a glitch in your machine,series link drop outs there are ways around this.Most of the time when i have rang i have spoken to a aussie from Telstra
We did have for a couple of years on the sport channels the different camera angels commentary etc eg like on the AFL Football which was great,hope they bring that back they also have done it a bit on the Cricket to BaggyGreen you could cut off the commentary and listen to what the players are saying on the overseas tours.Foxtel Rules TiVo sucks lol.And no i don’t work for Foxtel.But this is what we get now with everybody having a say through sites like this one,no matter how minor the issue.
Bad news for Foxtel, is its half owner Telstra are intending to release their own digital recorder device (T-box) in 3 months. If TV Tonight can get an interview with the highly arrogant Mr. Williams, that’d be terrific, but in the meantime here’s my complaints :
1} Fix the bugs in its iQ software – problems with part recordings ‘Cancellation Code [6]’ and Series Link drop outs.
2} Make all channels available in HD without charging extra.
3} Stop using Indian call centre operators.
4} Telstra should be forced to sell out of their Foxtel stake. As with splitting Telstra into 2, I’m sure it’s on the cards, in terms of the government’s plans.
Lets start a list for our friends at Foxtel:
Virtually zero ‘Foxtel First’ content anymore – 3 shows only last week (unbelievable). It used to be like an extra channel – no more.
Interactive prompts etc dont work on HD channels (eg record me)
No WIN EPG
No FTA for satellite subscribers in Adelaide & Perth despite Fox asserting that all subscribers have fta access.
What happened to Sports interactive with alternative commentary, camera angles etc? That never came.
Still channels not in widescreen.
plus all the ones you got David.
It is annoying that at times there is the feeling that they over promise. There is news that the converting is still going on with Arena and TV1 going widescreen on Tuesday. Wish they are willing to be interviewed (Foxtel) because they can bridge the gap of understanding like the interviews have done recently with TV heads of programming etc.
My previous comment wasn’t meant to sound like a huge TIVO promo….
With my TIVO i can transfer all sorts of files between my laptop and Tivo and watch them anywhere – i can also watch WMV and .MOV files on TIVO…
Gotta love the power of a Monopoly and what they get away with!
“Foxtel actually does exactly what it says it will do,” says Foxtel CEO Kim Williams –
Foxtel have said to me three times now that they’ll stop sending me a bill, in credit, addressed to the previous owner of my house. And yet as regular as clockwork, there’s another Foxtel envelope in my mailbox and month later. Kim Williams??? Anything???
I got another one for you
When I was working at Foxtel many moons ago, Mr Williams and his team promised Everyone who worked in the call centre that if a certain subscriber target was met, that Everyone in the call centre would get a $1000 bonus…
We met the target
..we belated only got a $500 bonus
Couldn’t agree more with your observations David. I’m all for technological improvements and innovation, but not at the expense of core service standards – particularly to existing, and loyal, customers.
Foxtel’s attitude reminds me of certain politicians, promising the world, but failing to deliver where it really counts – on the basics, like customer service, and decent programming standards. Raising expectations, and continually disappointing and frustrating subscribers, is not the way to retain a customer base.
With the increasing (albeit slowly) range of FTA services available, Foxtel may soon find themselves having to finally address the issue of retaining existing subscribers, rather than pouring all their resources into trying to attract new ones.