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Pay TV complains about anti-competitiveness, but….

Before the Pay TV lobby cries foul over anti-competitiveness it needs to look closer at its own backyard.

Pay TV lobby group ASTRA today is reportedly unhappy about an anti-competitive environment for Pay TV operators.

Huh?

Chief executive Petra Buchanan claims there needs to be a more balanced playing field for Pay TV providers to compete against the free-to-air networks.

”The legislative environment in Australia is incredibly anti-competitive and what that’s meant is that it has slowed growth of subscription television,” Ms Buchanan said.

It’s true the anti-siphoning list, licence fee rebates and the granting of spectrum favours free-to-air networks over Pay TV operators.

But not everything is so simple.

Last time I checked, Foxtel dominated the Pay TV environment in metropolitan areas and Austar dominanted regional areas.

Other providers including Optus TV, SelecTV and channels including Ovation have either wound down or are so modest as to be effectvely non-competitive themselves.

Viewers don’t get much choice about which Pay TV provider they would like to sign up to in the same way as energy suppliers and telcos.

In the bush some viewers are screaming over that lack of choice, and frustrated that city viewers are getting access to channels not yet supplied by Austar. New channel Speed is one such example. Where’s the competitiveness there, please?

ASTRA may have some claims in relation to fairness for the anti-siphoning list, but it’s a bit hot to be throwing around phrases about anti-competitiveness when there are such concerns in its own backyard.

Viewers would surely welcome a reboot of anti-competitiveness in the Pay TV world.

Source: smh.com.au

25 Responses

  1. I would really like to agree with all the comments ‘break down the dominance of Foxtel and the lack of service it provides. I can’t believe there is not a website (including their own) which accepts criticism of their service (ie there is not even a government department you can complain to). Has Rupert Murdoch lost the plot, is he so above the law there are no avenues to complain about the service or should I say lack of it provided by Foxtel (he owns the newspapers so they don’t report anything bad information about Foxtel either). Myself and partners have been subscribing to Foxtel for over 15 years. I have to say that the standard of programming in the last few years is so bad it is unbelieveable. We are subjected to shows which are 20 to 30 years old, numerous repeats and can’t even get the timing right to show another program which you may ave missed. I like the offers they have for new subscribers to join but never has a customer for over 10 years ever offered anything for loyalty. They gladly take your money out of the bank every month. I don’t know how the government or the regulatory boards let him get away with it. Has anyone tried to cancel their service…I have known a few people who have spent most part of the day to achieve this. Someone has to rally to improve the service or perhaps approach the Government. If you’ve had enough, please respond. I notice his son is buying into Channel 10 maybe even he realises what a disgrace the service is and wasn’t “free to air” meant No ads. They have more ads on than the commercial stations. Let’s all try and get something done.
    Fed Up Jenny

  2. Absolute disgrace, the accc’s response to complaints shows they must be getting paid off to not bother doing anything about this situation coz how can they claim there is no adverse effects on competition and fairness when foxtel i can get HD platinum package plus multi room hd box for 135 as opposed to austar charging me currently 160 and not even receiveing all the same perks and channels as to what foxtel offer?

  3. We have pretty much the “full package” of Austar, including HD. What really irks me is I can not choose to get Foxtel. Foxtel have more channels for the same money and better STBs. The irony is a Foxtel area is just a short drive away. Could you imagine a situation where all country customers can only shop at Coles and all city customers can only shop at Woolworths? That is exactly the cozy deal paytv providers have set up in Australia. It’s ridiculous, and neither the previous government or the current government will do anything about it. Numerous complaints have fallen on deaf ears, the ever arrogant Conroy doesnt even bother replying

  4. Hi David,

    Not 100% on topic here, but I’m interested to hear your thoughts on channel 9’s coverage of the 4 nations rugby league game between Australia and New Zealand tonight.

    Not only is the coverage delayed by half an hour (so they could show the 6 o’clock news and not really a massive problem for me) but despite the game being delayed we have on several occasions missed the first 30 seconds of play when channel 9 goes to an ad break (i have no idea how this can happen when it’s not a live broadcast, to give the viewing public the perception that the game is live perhaps?)

    Conversely, Fox Sports showed un-interrupted live coverage of the earlier game between PNG and England, Judging by the Sky NZ commentary on the Fox Sports broadcast the Kiwis were getting the same live uninterrupted coverage of the Australia-NZ game too.

  5. Not that I would ever advocate such practices, but the way that TV channels in this country treat most, non-sport non-Australian shows it’s a wonder that more people don’t just say “screw it” and hit the torrent sites. Nothing is more frustrating than becoming a fan of a show, through legal means, then having it screwed over – removed from the schedule at the slightest provocation, rescheduled at 11pm every 3rd week, not advertised, dumped for months, replaced by repeats that we have seen 100 times before…etc, etc.

  6. When I first moved to the house I am in now, I rang austar because I had been a customer of theirs at my previous location (20 mins drive away). I wanted to keep my Austar (at the time they were cheaper for the channels I wanted), and Austar wanted to keep me as a customer, but unfortunately I had moved into a foxtel area. Seemed a bit unfair that I was being forced to change to foxtel when both Austar and I wanted to do business together! So I didn’t change for a long time. I have it now though, and today after making a comparison I would choose foxtel over Austar, but it would be nice to have that Choice.

  7. I feel sorry for Pay TV why.If you look at how the other parts of the world operate FTA only screens there own programs.They are not allowed to go near any cable programs and screen them on FTA,if you must watch some of these shows you must get Pay television.In Australia FTA are laughing they can pick up as many cable shows they want and screen them,basically stealing from the competition.As well as the anti-siphoning list Pay Tv in Australia is very disadvantaged compared to other countries,not good enough,and certainly not a even playing field by a long way.No i don’t work for Pay TV

  8. I dropped pay TV a few years ago ….why should I pay so much to watch TV with just as many ads as free to air. the greedy bastards are getting money from both sides

  9. I live on the other side of the border of where metro meets rural and can only get Austar.. Just two streets away from me can get Foxtel, the major town which is only a few minutes from my house continually advertises Foxtel but yet what’s the point? We can only get Austar and Austar just does not have the same offering. There’s my 2c.

  10. @ Secret Squirrel – because I am in a wheelchair and my hobby is watching large amounts of TV, and trust me after one surgery of not being able to leave bed for a week and all you have to watch is Days of your Lives, and Dr Phil you realse the importance of over 100 channels to the 15 Freeview channels. And I know they have no incentive to reduce the price, but if the bloddy boss realises it should be reduced then it is going to happen sooner or later.

  11. To be honest, for all the negatives it brings, I begrudgingly prefer a Pay-TV monopoly.

    I was one of the people who had Foxtel and Optus Vision to get all the channels. Times are different now, I couldn’t justify paying for two television subscriptions now. I like that we get most channels through one provider.

    Regarding the comparison to choice of energy and telco providers, I miss the old days before privatisation. I guess I’m just an old socialist at heart!

  12. @Josh – if you don’t think that you’re receiving value for your money, why on earth would you keep paying for TV? It’s a free market – they offer a product for a price and you choose to pay it. There is no incentive for Austar or Foxtel to reduce their prices while you keep paying them.

  13. Sounds like the best comedy show on Pay TV yet! 😉

    What a joke. Overpriced channels where you pay to watch commercials and where there’s no real pay TV competition to change things. Should we get a 5 year old to explain to ASTRA why customers wouldn’t be flocking to Pay TV?

  14. Ok I am totally confused by what she said. Its like she is saying there should be more competitveness but we should also not be so competitive in the one sentence. I wish Foxtel or some third pay TV company would come to regional Australia because I am sick of paying too much for too little. And when is the price of pay TV going down? Mr Porter, head of Austar, said himself in an interview for The Australian that he wants to reduce the price from over $120 a month to $80-$90 a month for all the channels, yet that article was in August and we are still to see a price reduction. Austar are actually planning on increasing the price if they launch the new Foxtel channels. Can someone tell me how that is fair when Foxtel are already charging the same amount and Austar want to increase it even more? Austar increased its prices last year with the “Next Generation” of channels while Foxtel did not, and now Foxtel is increasing its prices with the latest batch of channels and Austar wants to increase its prices once again. Over my cold dead body will I let them increase my monthly fees even more.

  15. I’d think the attitude by Foxtel is to warehouse channels is anti-competitive. If ACCC looked in to it, it may force Foxtel and Austar to make their entire channel lineup avaliable to third-party operators.

    Then and only then, will there be true competition again in the subscription sector.

  16. ITA, I would love to see Austa and Foxtel offing the same packages and competing in each others markets, maybe that will bring the prices down for all and allow more people to get into pay TV for the first time.

  17. This weeks Four Corners showed what shonky practices there are with the ridiculous telcos (i.e. rip-off merchants). And I wouldn’t be surprised if the energy companies can be the same. I prefer that there be some kind of sensible fraud protection. I’ll note I’m talking about the companies that get people to sign up to fraudulent contracts and rental deals (with “free” equipment). Then disappear after getting the person to rack up bills of thousands of dollars. Sometimes on things they owned in the first place. Sometimes not.

    That said they’d have to pay me to get Pay TV. Or provide it for free. And I’m sure there are plenty of us out there that think it a ludicrous idea to pay for access to television. Especially as there are DVDs plus so many other ways to see things even if you can’t see it on free-to-air TV. Actually there are so many choices now and not enough hours in the day.

    I’ll admit I do find it ridiculous that everyone can’t get the same deal no matter where you live. Also the same access to free-to-air television channels. Obviously with State, Territory or Regional variations eg. News. That’s the thing that Government should try to make happen i.e. access for all or nearly all (ABC1-3 & ABC News 24; SBS1-2; Seven, 7TWO, 73; Nine, GO!, 90; Ten, One, Eleven; & maybe Ch 31). Plus anything else or something similar if not all of them.

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