207 replies to this topic

[vallatv]

hope we get some new equipment and channels.

[duke]

It was already said we'd get new channels. Just have to wait until May I pesume.

[unclewhimsy]

Great, I'm in an Austar area and can't wait to get Foxtel.

[DrP]

vallatv, on 10 April 2012 - 11:43 AM, said:

hope we get some new equipment and channels.

[anacho]

I've been waiting for years to get HD but wasn't willing to take on a MyStar. Now I'll be getting an IQ HD as soon as they come available.

I'll also now be able to bundle my phone, adsl and Foxtel into one neat package.

I can't say how much I appreciate the ACCC for not allowing me to do these things until now, just in order to protect a nice cosy little non-competition agreement between Austar and Foxtel.

[pgdownload]

anacho, on 10 April 2012 - 04:23 PM, said:

I can't say how much I appreciate the ACCC for not allowing me to do these things until now, just in order to protect a nice cosy little non-competition agreement between Austar and Foxtel.

Appears this had nothing to do with the process. Its always been obvious Austar and Foxtel don't 'compete'. But since they both really wanted the takeover to go through, the ACCC has used that to get concessions that will help organisations other than Foxtel provide competition down the track. Otherwise you might find your 'neat package' costs twice as much [Edit: as you would otherwise be paying] five years from now.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Edited by pgdownload, 11 April 2012 - 11:33 AM.

[DrP]

There hasn't been any real alternative to Foxtel/Austar (Optus had compartively limited coverage and is now simply a repackage of Foxtel anyway) in the past and yet today's prices for them aren't particularly odious.  If excessive pricing was Foxtel's game we'd have it those prices you hint at, right now.

[BamBBBam]

duke, on 10 April 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

It was already said we'd get new channels. Just have to wait until May I presume.

So Austar getting 'new' channels means the loss of Al Jazeera and CCTV, I suppose.

[pgdownload]

DrP, on 10 April 2012 - 05:42 PM, said:

and yet today's prices for them aren't particularly odious.  If excessive pricing was Foxtel's game we'd have it those prices right now.

Tis all relative. Any company marketing a product will look to charge what the market can bear. At the moment "normal" is around $100 a month for PayTV. Perhaps in a few years "normal" will become around $50 a month because there's more than one company offering a good variety of PayTV options.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[davmel]

BamBBBam, on 10 April 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

So Austar getting 'new' channels means the loss of Al Jazeera and CCTV, I suppose.

Indeed. CCTV might disappear completely from the sat but Al Jazeera might revert back to being outside a bouquet and requiring manual entry of PID's which will be a pain.

[xJTx]

BamBBBam, on 10 April 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

So Austar getting 'new' channels means the loss of Al Jazeera and CCTV, I suppose.

What we gain:
808 MTV Hits
812 MTV Live
252 MTV Live HD
652 CNBC
232 Discovery HD
236 Nat Geo HD
238 Nat Geo Wild HD
201 3D CHANNEL

What we lose:
134 Ovation
651 Al Jazeera English
653 CCTV News
510 Setanta Sports (becomes independent add-on)
432 Austar Help Channel
999 Top Picks

[davmel]

pgdownload, on 10 April 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

Tis all relative. Any company marketing a product will look to charge what the market can bear. At the moment "normal" is around $100 a month for PayTV. Perhaps in a few years "normal" will become around $50 a month because there's more than one company offering a good variety of PayTV options.

The concession that ACCC required for the merger to go ahead requiring non-exclusive contracts will mean a lot more competition from IPTV providers through the NBN so prices will have to come down, not go up.

[davmel]

xJTx, on 10 April 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

What we gain:

You forgot all the Sky News local multi-channels and a huge library of content through an internet connection. Plus Foxtel through T-Box/Xbox will now be available outside metro areas (legitimately without having to fudge the address details.....).

Edited by davmel, 10 April 2012 - 10:14 PM.

[pgdownload]

Quote

What we lose:

Wouldn't be so sure about that. Foxtel just bought Austar. So there's no reason that what ever Austar broadcast won't now be broadcast on Foxtel...

[davmel]

pgdownload, on 10 April 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

Wouldn't be so sure about that. Foxtel just bought Austar. So there's no reason that what ever Austar broadcast won't now be broadcast on Foxtel...

You should take a reality check. Foxtel will never broadcast Al Jazeera or CCTV on their platform until those networks cough up the cost of being re-transmitted on their cable network and pay the STB access fees. They're not interested and I don't see them changing their mind and suddenly handing over large sums of money to Foxtel.

[davmel]

I guess the important question is when will the Austar section of this forum merge into the Foxtel one? ;-)

[xJTx]

davmel, on 10 April 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

You forgot all the Sky News local multi-channels and a huge library of content through an internet connection. Plus Foxtel through T-Box/Xbox will now be available outside metro areas (legitimately without having to fudge the address details.....).

That list is what we would gain in the shorter term via Mystar. Sky News Local, IPTV etc would come much later with the iQ. We would lose however, the best thing Mystar has, the terrestrial tuners.

[nutmeg1]

Why will Foxtel replace the current set top boxes any time soon?.I would love to get rid of the hd box number 4 reset so many times but there are so many out there and with loader 60 in the offing

I can not see them rushing out to replace the boxes in homes or new installations until the iq box needs to be updated then they may decide to do a gradual update.Don't forget when a box is sent

back its refurbished and sent out again to some other poor sucker.

[xJTx]

Foxtel would eventually change out all the Austar (Irdeto) units for the Foxtel (NDS) units, with hopefully a new iQ with terrestrial tuners in the years to come, but in the mean time, Foxtel should give Mystar users the option (for a cost, no doubt) of changing over to the iQ if we want.

[DrP]

pgdownload, on 10 April 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

Tis all relative. Any company marketing a product will look to charge what the market can bear. At the moment "normal" is around $100 a month for PayTV. Perhaps in a few years "normal" will become around $50 a month because there's more than one company offering a good variety of PayTV options.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Perhaps, but a significant reduction in pricing is a a far cry from the doubled price you suggested might have been the outcome if the ACCC did not take the action it did.

[fairybread]

I hope I don't have to change boxes. I would hate to lose the FTA channels that I currently get through Austar.

[thunderball]

Yes how will the FTA channels work once austar is taking over?
My area gets the metro channels but they are a austar area in the blue mountains nsw.

[pgdownload]

davmel, on 10 April 2012 - 10:54 PM, said:

You should take a reality check. Foxtel will never broadcast Al Jazeera or CCTV on their platform until those networks cough up the cost of being re-transmitted on their cable network and pay the STB access fees.

It appears this issue need only affect cable customers. Quite conceivable Al Jazeera and CCTV are offered to 'Foxtel' satellite customers. I'm not saying that will happen, just that I wouldn't assume at this point that existing Austar customers will lose certain channels just because they aren't currently in Foxtels line-up.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[davmel]

thunderball, on 11 April 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

Yes how will the FTA channels work once austar is taking over?
My area gets the metro channels but they are a austar area in the blue mountains nsw.

You'll get the Sydney metro FTA stations by satellite if you're in the metro FTA broadcast area.

[davmel]

pgdownload, on 11 April 2012 - 11:46 AM, said:

Quite conceivable Al Jazeera and CCTV are offered to 'Foxtel' satellite customers.

No they won't. They would have to pay the STB access fee that Foxtel charges channel operators to appear on their service. Both have refused.