is a
Cable Television and
Satellite Television company in
Australia , formed through a joint venture between
Telstra and
News Corporation . Half of News Corp.'s stake was later sold to businessman
Kerry Packer 's
Publishing And Broadcasting Limited . The current ownership is 50% Telstra, and 50% to a joint venture company which is itself 50% owned by News Corp and 50% by
PBL .
Foxtel transmits its cable service into the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth Metropolitan areas. Foxtel transmits its satellite service into some of these cities, as well as the Newcastle and Canberra Metropolitan areas. It also transmits its satellite service to many areas of Regional WA.
Telstra 's network and
Foxtel were created to combat the threat posed to Telstra's local call business by the combination of
Optus Vision (now Known As Optus TV) content bundling with Optus' local telephony services.
Foxtel was the content arm of
Telstra 's defence strategy.
Telstra 's multimedia broadband network was originally the sole delivery system.
The Installation and Maintenance of Foxtel services is
Telstra 's responsibility. In many markets,
Telstra has outsourced Installation and Maintenance to large communications contractors, including
ABB Communications and
Siemens-Thiess Communications Joint Venture .
Currently, Foxtel have residential and wholesale connections to 1.16 million locations
| Date | No of customers | Market Reach |
|---|
| April 1998 | 300,000 | 2.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| April 1999 | 500,000 | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| March 2000 | 600,000 | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| August 2000 | 650,000 | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| August 2001 | 750,000 | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| March 2002 | 785,000 | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| June 2004 | 1.1 Million (incl. Wholesale)
>250,000 Digital Customers | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
| June 2005 | 1 Million (excl. Wholesale) | 4.5 Million Homes |
|---|
Foxtel launched its digital service () in March
2004 . The service is loosely based on another of News Corporation's Subscription Providers,
BSkyB . Features of the digital service include:
Like many other
NewsCorp owned digital platforms Foxtel uses NDS the
OpenTV interactive platform and runs on primarily
Pace Set-top boxes.
Foxtel has also launched , a
Timeshifting Personal Digital Recorder , in which subscribers are able to record programs onto a
Hard Drive inside the
Set-top Box for later viewing. Foxtel iQ also allows viewers to use the rewind or pause features during television programs.
Pace Micro Technologies are the Set Top Box provider for - of which, they
claim that the cable version of iQ is the first
DVB based Cable
Personal Digital Recorder .
Like
BSkyB , Foxtel Digital utilises
NDS services, including their Videoguard encryption system (for both Cable and Satellite). This is a change from previously using
Irdeto and more recently
Irdeto 2 on their Satellite service.
Although TVN Racing is available to Foxtel subscribers it is not a Foxtel channel, due to Foxtel's exclusivity agreement with Sky Racing. To subscribe you need to contact TVN directly, and not Foxtel. TVN has reached an agreement with Telstra to carry the channel available on their cable, and unless you subscribe to the channel it is not visible. This is due to the fact that it's not registered with Foxtel in anyway.
- Channel 830 - Air active - Hits, Radio 2, Pop, Groove, Rock, Jukebox, New Wave, Home Grown, Urban, Dance, Anthem, Soul, Easy, Lounge, Café, Spa, Blues, Light Classical, Sound Tracks, Crooners, Today’s Country, Classic Country, BBC World Service, Special Events, Edge, ‘70s, ‘80s, Alt-rock, Classic R&B, News and More
- Channel 867 - SBS AM
- Channel 868 - SBS FM
- Channel 875 - ABC NewsRadio (Satellite Only)
- Channel 876 - ABC Parliamentary News Network (Satellite Only)
- Channel 877 - ABC Radio National (Satellite Only)
- Channel 878 - ABC Local Radio (Satellite Only)
- Channel 882 - ABC Classic FM (Satellite Only)
- Channel 883 - ABC Triple J (Satellite Only)
- Channel 884 - ABC DiG Radio
- Channel 885 - ABC DiG Jazz
- Channel 901 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 1
- Channel 902 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 2
- Channel 903 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 3
- Channel 904 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 4
- Channel 905 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 5
- Channel 906 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 6
- Channel 907 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 7
- Channel 908 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 8
- Channel 909 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 9
- Channel 910 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 10
- Channel 911 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 11
- Channel 912 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 12
- Channel 913 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 13
- Channel 914 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 14
- Channel 915 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 15
- Channel 916 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 16
- Channel 917 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 17
- Channel 918 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 18
- Channel 919 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 19
- Channel 920 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 20
- Channel 921 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 21
- Channel 922 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 22
- Channel 923 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 23
- Channel 924 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 24
- Channel 925 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 25
- Channel 926 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 26
- Channel 927 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Channel 27
- Channel 928 - Main Event
- Channel 928 - FOXTEL BOX OFFICE Preview Channel
- Channel 941 - Antenna (Greek) (formerly known as Antenna Pacific)
- Channel 942 - RAI International (Radiotelevisione Italiana) (Italian)
- Channel 955 - Adults Only (Late Night to early morning only), Main Event (Special Occasions Only) and when neither are running, there is a second broadcast of Fashion TV
- Channel 960 - Adults Only Select 1
- Channel 961 - Adults Only Select 2
- Channel 998 - Test Channel
- Channel 999 - FOXTEL Digital and Foxtel IQ Help Channel
