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Audience Inventory 2011: Pay TV results

Pay Television subscribers are those who are serious about their entertainment -but their biggest gripe still relates to Free to Air access.

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Pay Television subscribers are those who are serious about their entertainment.

They are prepared to pay a premium price to get their shows on time, with live sport, movies and the cream of the HBO dramas in HD. And they are big consumers of the Foxtel iQ.

But when they are paying customers they claim ownership over their product and in TV Tonight‘s annual Audience Inventory they have made their feelings known on a number of issues.

40% of readers indicated they were a subscriber to Pay TV, a rise of 1% on the previous year.

Do you subscribe to Pay TV?
No 60%
Foxtel (cable) 18%
Foxtel (satellite) 15%
Austar 5%
Foxtel (other device, ie. XBox 360) 1%
Other 1%

In results already published, Foxtel scored well with viewers for reliability in programming, and being trustworthy at scheduling -beaten only by the ABC.

There was also a good uptake of the iQ / iQ2 as a PVR, with the Foxtel EPG again the third most popular form of programming info behind a Free to Air EPG and Online guides.

* indicates multiple answers allowed

Which Pay TV channels do you watch regularly?*
FOX8 64%
FOX Sports 41%
LifeStyle 37%
Arena 34%
Comedy 32%
Showcase 31%
111 Hits 31%
Showtime 30%
UKTV 30%
TV1 28%
Discovery 27%
SKY News 26%
Nat Geo 26%
Other 23%
HD Channels 31%
E! 19%
Movie One 19%
Channel [V] 18%
Sci Fi 18%
Lifestyle YOU 18%
History 17%
MAX 15%
MTV 13%
Movie Extra 12%
Bio 12%
Crime & Investigation 11%
BBC World News 10%
CNN 9%
Disney 8%
13TH Street 8%
Universal 7%
SPEED 7%
World Movies 6%
STVDIO 6%
FMC 5%

Which Pay TV Package do you subscribe to? *
None 54%
(Skipped question 16%)

Foxtel: Drama & Lifestyle 22%
Foxtel: Get Started 21%
Foxtel: Sports 21%
Foxtel: Knowledge & Adventure 19%
Foxtel: Kids and Music 18%
Foxtel: Showtime Movies 16%
Foxtel: HD 14%
Foxtel: Movie Network 14%
Austar: Starter Pack 5%
Austar: Living 4%
Other 4%
Austar: Sports 4%
Austar: Fun 3%
Austar: Showtime Movies 3%
Austar: Quest 2%
Austar: Movie Network 1%

There was little change in the issues that concerned viewers from the data received last year. Like their Free to Air counterparts, their gripes in 2010 remain their biggest concerns in 2011.

Still the biggest issue with viewers is access to all the Free to Air channels. Viewers are unhappy they can’t see all the multichannels such as ELEVEN, GEM and 7mate.

Second on their list is the amount of ads that Pay Television runs.

The third area of complaint lays with Foxtel’s refusal to align all the Free to Air channels together on the EPG menu.

The issue that interests them the least is the merging of Foxtel with Austar, but many also want more competition from providers.

Rate any or all of the following Pay TV issues?*
(in order of Importance)

Very Important:
Adding all FTA digital channels
Less ads
Aligning all FTA channels on EPG Menu
Satellite customers to access all FTA channels
More packaging options
Widescreen for all channels
More competition in providers
Improving customer service
Adding new channels

Important:
Maintaining innovative features ie. Remote record, 3D, Downloading

Neutral:
Merging Foxtel / Austar
Upgrading IQ / MyStar for internet access
More HD channels
More Aussie content

Somewhat Important:
None

Not Important:
None

Amongst the Pay TV comments were:

– Cable TV needs to get rid of ADS, im paying for no ads!! The foxtel Packages need to be more flexible, e.g. you choose 20 channels and pay ?? amount because 90% of whats in the packs that I pay for I dont watch. Waste of my money.
– More Kids Channels on Pay TV Please
– Foxtel has become just another collection of commercial channels.
– Far, far too much reality tv. Arena, E, MTV, Bio and other channels unwatchable. Need more comedy and drama.
– Subtitles on Foxtel would be great, including when IQ recorded. As would having access to all FTA channels.
– We need a soap channel so they can bring back general hospital and all the other wonderful Soaps they stopped running.
– Foxtel is so great, I love my HD channels and all channels are always on time.
– Less ads and repeats on pay tv or I’ll unsubscribe
– Foxtel satellite should have all FTA channels, and as for FTA shows starting on time – with digital timing (ie. 8:33 instead of 8:30) as long as it shows 8:33 and actually starts then I don’t see that as starting late, it’s ontime to the digital realtime (if that makes sense?)
– Would like to see someone, maybe TV Tonight, investigate how so many people can’t access Foxtel IQ. I can’t get it in my apartment building, despite owning the apartment. Really frustrating. Is Foxtel working on upgrading the technology? There must be lots of people in this situation.
– Stop those bloody insurance line ads
– Pay TV is worth every cent for HD Sport on FoxSports and ESPN

It should be noted that Fast-tracking is an issue across the board for viewers in both Free to Air and Pay TV, with many readers calling on broadcasters to deliver shows faster.

A final story on the Audience Inventory will follow soon, which will redress a dominance of ‘complaint’ responses and we’ll hear from readers who love their TV -don’t we all?

19 Responses

  2. The biggest issue i find with Pay TV is there is More ads than FTA. WTF is with that? I mean i pay for Sports and watch the basic channels available as i mostly subscribe to Austar for the Sport and Racing. However the amount of ads PayTV have is an absolute joke. Get rid of them Pronto!

  3. i actually find it annoying that you cant get all FTA chanels on foxtel for example if i wanted to watch eleven i would have to change the tv to the PVR channel then change the PVR to eleven and then if i wanted to record the show on eleven i would have to record it on the PVR it would be so much easier if i could just do it all on foxtel

  4. @Ryan Some of us cannot get some of the free to air stations without Foxtel. If you live in a regional area and your aerial isn’t good enough to get all the free to air digital stations (and you rent so an updgrade is reliant on the landlord) then its Foxtel or nada.

  7. I didn’t know how to answer the package question.
    I am a platinum subscriber (i.e. every channel except pay-per-view special events like boxing matches).
    That wasn’t an option, so I selected something else.

    1. Jen for future reference, the Platinum includes all of those Foxtel packages listed. Short of having one-on-one convos between a researcher and an individual there will always be some room for error and interpretation….

  9. @ David, that is interesting. Considering ‘Get Started’ is the most expensive package on Foxtel, I’d expect that most subscribers would know what it was. But then again, having access to channels like FOX8, Arena and LifeStyle, people may just assume these channels are from the ‘Drama & Lifestyle’ package.

    @ Evan Davis, you’re probably right, I just found it unusual, I assumed all Foxtel subscribers would select ‘Get Started’ and then select the other packages they subscribe to. Obviously not…

    1. Michael: interestingly it was the same last year. I guess it’s about people’s brand recognition with the package names. Maybe some people are confused about what Getting Started is…. whereas they know they have Drama and Lifestyle shows.

  14. I don’t see them getting rid of ads, but it’s nice to see some channels like W now having ad-free programing in prime time and others like Showcase with no ads during their shows/movies. Ads on FTA and Pay are just a fact of life, without which the current PayTV model wouldn’t work.

    David how is this handled in the US, UK and other countries with their PayTV services?

  15. Unlike FTA, foxtel will actually played out a series, which is a plus in my books, and repeating prime trme shows the next day during the lunch break , meaning i can avoid programming clashes

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