Foxtel reportedly considering including Netflix in its own on demand streaming service

NETFLIX is the biggest challenge facing Foxtel, but you wouldn’t know it from the company’s latest move.

Netflix’s surprising new ally

IN A surprise move, Foxtel is reportedly considering including Netflix in the company’s own version of an on-demand streaming service.

Foxtel faces an uphill battle in challenging Netflix on the streaming front, but it’s willing to get creative.

According to Fairfax media, Foxtel has also reached out to overseas rights holders including the BBC, Viacom and Discovery in an effort to secure video-on-demand rights to more of its content.

The move indicates a strong desire from the country’s most profitable media company to bolster the flexible on-demand component of its service, which currently has some gaping holes.

It’s not new for a streaming service to allow access to another streaming service’s content but including Netflix in its streaming platform would be an unprecedented move for Foxtel, marking a shift from its traditional “wall garden” approach to content.

For instance, Fetch TV — a much smaller competitor in the streaming market — hosts Netflix and Stan on its on demand platform.

Netflix has cemented itself as the most popular streaming service in Australia. Alternatively, Foxtel is viewed as expensive and rigid — a perception the company hope to dispel with a new marketing campaign launched on Sunday night.

“For various reasons some of the streaming services seem to have a perception that you can watch it on more platforms. Foxtel you can watch in just as many places. We just need to neutralise that perception,” Foxtel director of content marketing Rob Farmer told Ad News.

It’s been a big few weeks for Foxtel with the company’s chief executive of nearly five years, Richard Freudenstein, being replaced by Peter Tonagh.

Telstra which owns 50 per cent of Foxtel has also announced it is looking to sell some of its shares worth $4.5 billion.

Foxtel’s streaming service will be a direct competitor to Telstra TV.

Foxtel is part owned by News Corp Australia, the publisher of news.com.au