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Streaming service to renegotiate studio deals

Quickflix plans to renegotiate content deals with major studios and take on Foxtel and free-to-air broadcasters.

2013-03-05_0046Perth-based streaming service Quickflix plans to renegotiate content deals with major studios and take on Foxtel and free-to-air broadcasters.

Quickflix wants to stream new US and UK shows within hours of their overseas broadcast. That’s a strategy Foxtel has recently adopted on its premium dramas. But Foxtel has also stitched up HBO exclusivity, despite it being an investor in Quickflix.

CEO Stephen Langsford told The Australian Financial Review that the company intended to invest heavily in improving its streaming service in order to convince the majority of its customer base to switch to the lower-cost platform.

“It feels to me like streaming is only just arriving in reality,” he said. “In the US, everyone knows what streaming is, grannies know what streaming is.”

Despite having 120,000 customers and a 32 per cent growth in revenues for the first half, Quickflix has struggled to become profitable. It reported a $3.4 million loss for the half.

In the US Kevin Spacey appears in House of Cards, made specifically for Netflix. The platform now accounts for up to a third of all internet traffic in the USA.

Langford said that the company was yet to decide how it would price new-release television shows, but hinted that it could use a “season pass” model, allowing them to pay for an entire season.

8 Responses

  1. Anything that competes with the $2/episode models available from Telstra etc would be good. In the US Netflix and Hulu cost $14 and $17/month and have great content. I have a friend who got a US credit card and US IP address on a VPN who watches most of his TV on Netflix. He also uses a VPN to watch UK content for free.

    Foxtel though has already locked up a lot of the content I want to watch. And JB HiFi have announced they are no longer going to loss-lead with US TV shows to gain market share. So TV is unlikely to be cheap here.

  2. The Quickflix DVD service is amazing – so many DVDs that have been withdrawn from sale or really hard to find. The streaming service has a long way to go before it reaches DVD quality, though, and I won’t be interested until that happens. Also, the season pass model is a bad one. If I decide I don’t like a show after 6 eps, I’m stuck with it for the rest of the season! Content providers need to provide a service which is as good as – if not better – than what people are currently getting for free, albeit illegally, if they expect consumers to part with their cash. Selling points are going to be ease of download, range of content, quality of video, fast-tracking and price.

  3. David, at risk of being a bit troll-esque, Langsford told the ABC Technology show Download This Show he was going to do this weeks ago. abc.net.au/radionational/programs/downloadthisshow/dts022013/4503934 One of the bigger unanswered questions is how the investment from HBO plays here.

  4. If there is a way I could watch shows in a timely fashion such as drop dead diva that have been poorly treated by the network then I would be interested but at a reasonable price. I don’t want to pay too much to watch my shows. The way the networks in australia treat shows I have become very picky about which shows I have an interest in and any hint the show will not be treated with respect I won’t even give it a chance. I also think dvds have to be timed more quicker. They should be available right after a series has been shown in australia not months after.

  5. Netflix in the UK charges 5.99 GBP, ie less than 10 dollars per month to access everything it makes available in that market. Lovefilm Instant (owned by Amazon) charges from 5.89 GBP per month which includes its dvd rental service. Both are apparently fairly awesome.

    Quickflix entry level is 14.99 AUD per month and a range of other options that cost more.

    So for this business to suceed, content, pricing and high speed connection will ne crucial. There are a few vested interests that will not be over keen to see them grow…

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