Foxtel told potential lenders it was considering trimming its sports programming and hiking up subscription prices to improve its financial standing.
News Corp, owner of Foxtel, revealed details in a report with the same information it provided to "potential lenders regarding a refinancing of new Foxtel’s existing debt".
Earlier this week, News Corp revealed it had made a shareholder loan to Foxtel of $300 million to ease its debt, now standing at $1.33 billion, following the merge of Fox Sports Australia and Foxtel, referred to as “new Foxtel”.
Foxtel considered cuts in spending on “non-marquee sporting content” to reduce costs, although it didn’t specify which sports.
Another area of savings was marketing, noting it had “elevated marketing” to support its brand repositioning and new expenses to support the launch of sports platform Kayo.
Foxtel spend $81 million on sales and marketing in the first half of 2019, according to the new data released by News Corp .
It also reported $1.354 billion in revenue from subscriptions and $150 million from advertising.
Foxtel also flagged further cuts for MCN, citing “continued headcount and other cost rationalisation” at the business.
The pay TV provider also considered reviewing subscriprions, including raising prices for certain tiers.
It comes as its broadcast subscription numbers fall, while Foxtel Now grew as shown in the charts below:
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