Foxtel to introduce Flash streaming news service and hi-tech Sky Glass TV
Foxtel Group’s one-stop shop for news streaming, Flash will feature more than 20 local and global live news services and is the first of its kind in Australia.
Australia’s subscription television viewers will soon have access to enriched content and technology, with this month’s launch of the Foxtel Group’s news streaming service Flash following the company’s announcement of a global partnership to roll out smart TVs.
The Foxtel Group’s one-stop shop for news streaming, Flash will feature more than 20 local and global live news services and is the first of its kind in Australia.
Flash will be the third streaming service launched by the Foxtel Group in as many years – following on from sports platform Kayo, and entertainment service Binge – and will be led by former news.com.au editor-in-chief Kate De Brito.
Of Foxtel’s four million customers, 53 per cent have a streaming service.
Kayo, Binge and Flash chief executive Julian Ogrin said the new streaming service offering would be a win for consumers wanting to keep in touch with news as it breaks locally and internationally.
“By doing this we can reach more and more Australians as streaming services become today’s go-to source of high-quality entertainment and information,” Mr Ogrin said last week.
Flash is the first news specific streaming service of its kind in Australia and will be available live and on demand.
Figures from the Deloitte media report released last month found 70 per cent of Australians had at least one TV or movie streaming subscription, while the average household has 2.3 subscriptions.
The arrival of Flash coincides with another key Foxtel announcement – the company will become the first syndication partner with the Sky Glass smart TV that will be introduced in the UK on October 18.
For Australian users, the product should be available in 2023.
“Sky Glass will add another dimension to our future as we continue to invest in innovation and reposition Foxtel to be Australia’s premier aggregator of streamed entertainment,” Foxtel Group’s chief executive Patrick Delany said.
“It allows us to join a global product and technology road map created by Sky and Comcast, offering customers a world-class entertainment experience and devices, powered by Comcast’s global technology platform.”
Foxtel’s chief customer, marketing and revenue officer Hilary Perchard said the new 4K UHD TV with cinema-quality sound would significantly advance the user experience.
“The problem they are trying to solve for a consumer is re-aggregating content from the many different apps you watch TV on, for example on Foxtel, Netflix and Disney which all sit separately and you have to go in and out of them,” he said.
“Sky Glass has created an interface so the content is stuck right into the user interface.”
News Corp (publisher of The Australian) owns 65 per cent of Foxtel.
The remaining 35 per cent is owned by Telstra.
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