Foxtel launches video streaming service as Netflix and Amazon loom

By Brendan Coyne | 24 February 2014
 
Richard Freudenstein.

Foxtel has finally set a launch date for Presto, the video streaming service it hopes will head off competition from the likes of Netflix and potentially, Amazon.

CEO Richard Freudenstein announced the date and the price - $19.99/month – at the Broadcast Australia Summit this morning.

Media buyers and analysts have warned that next year could see both free-to-air and subscription TV companies see their revenues attacked by new market entrants. Netflix has not yet announced plans to launch in Australia, although it already has a local audience from subscribers who use geo-blocking to receive the service.

Amazon has set up an office and poached Yahoo!7 Ceo Stuart Sayers to head up the local unit. In the UK Amazon is taking the fight to Netflix with a beefed up streaming offering – both TV series and movies – via its Love Film platform.

It could be that Amazon in Australia may eventually represent a threat to broadcasters, although it is thought that the internet giant has no immediate plans for video streaming locally.

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