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Peter Tonagh appointed as new Foxtel CEO

News Corp CEO Peter Tonagh will replace Richard Freudenstein as head of Foxtel.

peter tonagh

News Corp Australia CEO Peter Tonagh has been confirmed as the new head of Foxtel, in a statement late today.

Richard Freudenstein will depart at the end of April after 4.5 years to pursue other interests.

Freudenstein succeeded Kim Williams in December 2011. During this time he has combatted digital disruption by offering lower-price packaging, plus Presto, bundling and TEN partnership as key corporate moves.

Foxtel recently reported subscribers had risen from 2.6 million to nearly 2.9 million, a rise of 8.1% (including Presto) with revenue up 5.5 per to $1.66 billion, and churn (subscriber cancellations) down 1.2 percentage points from 11.4%.

“It has been a privilege to lead Foxtel through the most dynamic and intensely competitive period of its history. I am extremely proud to have worked with such a great team of people who have all helped deliver our strategic plans by achieving significant subscriber growth, reduced churn and a substantial lift in our investment in Australian programming,” he said.

Foxtel Chairman, Robert Nason, said, “So much has happened in the past four-and-a-half years. Highlights include the 2012 London Olympics where we revolutionised coverage with eight channels and every gold medal live, the launch of Foxtel Go, the re-packaging of Foxtel content to reduce prices and drive record growth, the finalisation of major sporting deals, and the launch of an exciting array of Australian programs, many of which have won major awards. We have been at the forefront of the revolution in the way Australians view television.”

This year Foxtel also announced 100 jobs to go in its customer service ranks and a recent price increase for its basic package and has recently lost both Showtime and EPL deals.

Pete Tonagh was previously Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer but was promoted to News Corp CEO in 2013.

“Foxtel is an incredible business with an exciting future and I look forward to building on Richard’s contribution to deliver the next stage of Foxtel’s growth,” Mr Tonagh said.

Richard Freudenstein is also on the TEN Board.

Freudenstein and Tonagh will work together to transition the Foxtel leadership over coming weeks.

Meanwhile Fairfax also speculates Telstra is considering a $4.5 billion initial public offering of its 50 per cent stake in Foxtel.

6 Responses

  1. Interesting to see Telstra considering divesting from Foxtel. Makes senese i guess they already have visual media assets with T-Box and Bigpond Sport. Also they are in a better place to deal with Over the Top streaming competition. Within the next five to ten years Foxtel will be very different if it survives. It too will be Online only.

  2. A lot has happened in the last four years he says yeh losing the rights to the EPL was very stupid and as for subscribers going up take out the presto subscribers and pay tv numbers have not gone up.i would guess.

    1. Optus had driven up the price to about three times (I think, from memory) what Fox Sports had previously paid. It would be a stupid business decision to pay that much as you would never make the money back in revenue. Optus must be seeing this as a loss leader as I don’t see how they will be able to make the money back.

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