Foxtel


NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was established as a 50/50 joint venture between News Corp Australia and Telstra.
Since 2025, the company is owned by DAZN. It shares many features with the Sky service in the UK and Ireland – including the iQ box, the electronic programme guide, a similar remote control, and Red Button Active.

History

Foxtel was established via a joint venture between News Corporation and Telstra in October 1995. It officially launched on 23 October 1995 with 20 channels, including an exclusive 100 hour commission from Artist Services for its Fox channel.
In May 1998, Australis Media, the owner of Galaxy, was declared insolvent. Foxtel was consequently able to significantly boost its customer base by acquiring Galaxy subscribers from Australis' liquidator and immediately commenced supplying programming to former Galaxy subscribers on an interim basis. In February 1999, Foxtel began offering its own satellite service to new customers.
Kerry Packer purchased a 25% stake in Foxtel for $150 million in October 1998. Publishing & Broadcasting Limited also bought half of News Corp's stake in Foxtel, which left Telstra with 50% of the company.
In 2002, a content sharing agreement between Foxtel and Optus Television was approved by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
On 11 July 2011, Austar announced that it would be acquired by Foxtel through a transaction agreement with Liberty Global. This takeover received a minority shareholder approval on 30 March 2012, ACCC approval on 10 April 2012, and approval from a Second Court Hearing. Austar shares were suspended from the ASX on 16 April 2012 and delisted on 27 April 2012. The takeover was completed on 24 May 2012.
News Corporation acquired Consolidated Media Holdings in November 2012, bringing its stake in Foxtel to 50%, up from 25%.
BBC and Foxtel announced a partnership in 2013 to launch a premium BBC channel on Foxtel. The channel launched as part of the Foxtel Drama & Lifestyle package in 2014. The deal also included Foxtel broadcasting privileges of four existing BBC channels – UKTV, BBC Knowledge, CBeebies and BBC World News.
In June 2015, Foxtel officially agreed to buyout 15% shares in Ten Network Holdings, thereby ending "nine months of failed takeover bids" from Discovery Channel and Time Warner.
In June 2017, Foxtel announced that it would be undergoing its first major "Foxtel is for everyone" rebrand. The former logo, described as "quite aggressive, quite arrogant, quite elitist", would be replaced with an all lowercase logo; its Foxtel Play service also rebranded to Foxtel Now.
On 6 March 2018, News Corp Australia announced a merger of Fox Sports Australia with Foxtel. As part of the deal, News Corp would own a 65% stake in the combined entity, with Telstra owning 35% of ownership. The combining of the two businesses placed emphasis on live-streaming sports and entertainment.
On 4 May 2020, it was announced that Foxtel would be closing down its owned & operated music video networks and replacing them with a new suite of MTV, Nickelodeon and CMT-branded channels, as part of a wider deal with Paramount.
On 26 February 2022, Foxtel suspended broadcast distribution of the Russian television network RT in Australia. In September 2022, Foxtel extended their partnership with WWE to become Australia's exclusive home of WWE. Foxtel is to relocate WWE Network into Foxtel's Binge streaming service in January 2023, following the launch of its dedicated linear TV channel in December 2022.
In August 2024, it was reported that News Corp Australia was pursuing a sale of Foxtel, citing third-party interest in the division during a strategic review of its assets. The sale also came amid trends towards cord-cutting and free ad-supported streaming television services, and major cuts to News Corp Australia's publishing businesses amid declining advertising revenue. An initial suitor was American private equity firm Platinum Equity, but it was later reported that British sports streaming company DAZN was in active negotiations. On 23 December 2024, DAZN announced that it would acquire Foxtel, in a transaction valuing the company at $3.4 billion. As part of the sale, News Corp Australia and Telstra will take 6% and 3% minority stakes in DAZN.
The acquisition was completed on 2 April 2025 following the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board; DAZN stated that it would maintain "Foxtel" and its related brands. Following the merger, Foxtel laid off approximately 100 employees, reported to be mostly from the Hubbl subsidiary.

Ratings

Foxtel grew rapidly in 2007, with most of Foxtel's highest-ever rating events being broadcast that year, including the 2007 AFC Asian Cup quarter-final between Australia and Japan, which drew an average of 419,000 viewers, an Australian pay television record at that time. This ratings record has since been eclipsed by the 2011 Rugby World Cup on Fox Sports 1 averaging around 500,000 viewers, which was smashed by the 2012 London Olympics Coverage, broadcast on 8 dedicated channels in both HD and SD formats, which saw an average of 946,432 viewers tuning in on the opening weekend, with around 600,000 to 700,000 viewers nightly thereafter.
As of 2012, Fox Sports channels, particularly Fox Footy, average between 90,000 and 300,000 + viewers for NRL/AFL matches throughout the week.
The highest-rated light entertainment shows are The Simpsons most weeknights on FOX8 with around 110,000 viewers, as well as Family Guy with around 70,000 viewers. A&E has also recorded healthy audience numbers for its TruTV and A&E US syndicated shows from the US – Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn, and Storage Wars. BBC UKTV also consistently rates well with British soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street. The LifeStyle channel has experienced audiences in excess of 100,000 people for its Premiere shows Location Location Location Australia, Grand Designs Australia, Selling Houses Australia, Disney Channel and The Real Housewives of Melbourne brings strong ratings.

Availability

Foxtel transmitted its cable service via Telstra hybrid fibre-coaxial cable into the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth metropolitan areas, along with the Gold Coast. Foxtel now also transmits its satellite service into these cities as well as all over Australia, including regional areas since the takeover of Austar. Previous Austar customers are now 100% Foxtel customers with the conversion from Austar to Foxtel in regional Australia now complete. Foxtel on Mobile launched on Telstra's Next G Network in late 2006 and is now available within Telstra Next G coverage areas, which covers 99% of the population.
With the transfer in ownership of Telstra's HFC network to NBN Co for the provision of broadband services, Foxtel announced in 2022 that it would be abandoning HFC in favour of satellite and IPTV services. The transition was completed in 2023, after which no Foxtel services have been provided via HFC, thus making NBN's HFC network all-IP, solely carrying DOCSIS services.
Telstra's network and Foxtel were created to combat the threat posed to Telstra's local call business by the combination of Optus Television content bundling with Optus' local telephony services; Foxtel was the content arm of Telstra's defence strategy, while Telstra's multimedia broadband network was originally the sole delivery system.
In 2002, Foxtel and Optus Television agreed to a content-sharing arrangement. Programming competition between the two companies has now dissipated. Prior to its acquisition by Foxtel in 2011, Austar, a regional pay television operator, also carried most Foxtel programming.
, Foxtel is Australia's largest pay television operator, with programming available to over 70% of Australian homes, and delivered to over 1.65 million, either directly or by Foxtel's wholesale customers. In April 2008, Foxtel's penetration into Australian homes passed 30%. This penetration rate is significantly lower compared with market penetration rates in the US and in Western Europe. This is due to the fact that Australian pay-TV fees are significantly more expensive and pay-TV began delivering its service much later in Australia than in the US.
Foxtel announced its maiden annual profit in 2006, more than 10 years after it commenced services. 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.
In 2007, Network 10 formed an agreement with Foxtel to allow them to carry a digital version of Ten's programming. Included in the deal is electronic program guide data, which allows Foxtel iQ users to schedule recordings on Ten. Before the agreement, Ten was carried in an analogue format on cable only. In 2008, Seven Network entered an agreement to allow Foxtel to carry its SD signal. In 2008, the first Pay TV package comparison site YouCompare was launched to allow Foxtel packages and pricing to be compared to SelecTV, however this service was ceased along with the ceasing of SelecTV's service in late 2010.
On 24 November 2009, Foxtel added 7two to the East Coast and 7two and GO! to cable subscribers. ABC3 was recently introduced on 4 December 2009 to all Foxtel and Austar subscribers.
On 20 May 2010, Foxtel and Microsoft announced a new way of receiving Foxtel through Xbox 360's online service Xbox LIVE. The service launched November 2010 with 30+ channels and an additional 12 Video-on-demand channels. It also provided Foxtel's movie service, known as Foxtel On Demand, to non-subscribers for the first time on a pay-per-view basis. Further linear channels were added in April 2011 with the addition of 7 Telstra BigPond channels.
In June 2011, Foxtel launched an over-the-top service on Telstra's IPTV set top box called Foxtel on T-Box carrying the same services as the Foxtel on Xbox service. Also as of June 2011, Foxtel's subscribers numbered just over 1.65 million.
In November 2014, Foxtel added 2 new SD channels, 9 new HD channels and rebranded 2 sports channels to satellite and cable subscribers.