Live sports, Sky News to hit Binge as Foxtel ponders life without HBO
By Calum Jaspan
Foxtel will begin offering sports content and Sky News Australia on its streaming service Binge for the first time, in a bid to hold on to subscribers as it prepares for the exit of popular shows House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.
The majority News Corp-owned company on Thursday said Binge is “entering its sports era” with the live broadcasts of the AFLW and WBBL Grand Finals.
Live sport will be available on Binge for the first time.Credit: Getty Images
It will then begin introducing other live sport such as the men’s Big Bash League, some regular season AFL and NRL matches, as well as talk shows AFL 360, NRL 360 and Sunday Night with Matty Johns to the service.
With the departure of flagship HBO content looming over the horizon, as global media firm Warner Bros. Discovery readies to launch its streaming service Max in early 2025, Foxtel is now attempting to retain old customers and grab new customers through its remaining suite of broadcast rights.
While the move risks cannibalising its other existing paid services, with duplicated content across several of its services, including Lifestyle, Kayo and news streaming platform Flash. Foxtel said there is less than 10 per cent overlap of subscribers to Binge and Kayo during an advertiser presentation on Thursday evening.
A proportion of Foxtel’s existing women’s sport coverage will be available for Binge subscribers at a much lower price point than the cost of a Kayo subscription, while the World Surfing League, Women’s golf tours and Formula 1 mini-races will also be available. It will also simulcast AFL and NRL matches on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays during the regular season.
Foxtel added it will also integrate live streams of news outlets Sky News Australia for the first time, shortly after the cable news channel launched its own streaming service.
Sky News UK, CNBC and Fox Sports News will be available to subscribers as well, however Flash will continue as a standalone subscription service.
Foxtel recently restructured its leadership after the exit of two of its most senior executives, including head of Binge and chief content officer Amanda Laing, and managing director of streaming aggregator Hubbl, Les Wigan.
In its recent full-year financials, News Corp reported $2.9 billion in revenue, with 86 per cent of it derived through subscriptions, 70 per cent of its subscribers were streaming customers. Kayo subscribers reached 1.55 million as of June this year according to company filings, while Binge subscribers numbered 1.53 million.
“We’ve supercharged Binge to be the leading platform that brings Live and On Demand entertainment, sport, news and lifestyle content together on one platform,” Binge and Kayo chief executive Julian Ogrin said.
Calum Jaspan travelled to Sydney as a guest of Foxtel.
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