Foxtel plans Disney+ integration says CEO Patrick Delaney
Following the sensational partnership between Foxtel and Netflix, the Australian pay TV service is seeking other partners to increase its on-demand content offering.
Did you catch the news? On 24 July 2019, Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany took to the stage at the company's HQ in Sydney to officially announce a deal that sees Netflix and SBS content surface on the Foxtel IQ user interface. It's Foxtel's big move at protecting its place in the Australian broadcast scene as customers consider cutting the cord and streaming their entertainment needs.
Integration is Foxtel's plan moving forward. To aggregate as many content providers as possible in one place, the Foxtel IQ box, it was also announced, has been updated. Netflix and SBS is just the start, that much was clear.
As we investigate the foreseeable future, there are plenty of other new streaming services arriving that are even bigger threats to Foxtel than Netflix. Namely, Disney+, launching in the USA this November.
Disney as a company not only owns its Disney content, but also Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and 20th Century Fox, among others. This includes a lot of Foxtel's most popular content and should Disney+ launch into Australia in 2020 as predicted, it would be unlikely that this content will continue to be available on Foxtel, which is effectively a competitor service.
After the briefing, Finder caught up for a one-on-one chat with Patrick Delaney, which you can read in its entirety here. As part of that discussion, we spoke about how Foxtel intends to handle the arrival of Disney+ and the intent was clear. It's Foxtel's hope that the company can strike a similar deal with Disney+ as it has with Netflix. Here is what Delaney had to say:
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Will Disney+ be available on Foxtel?
How do you see the upcoming Disney+ and HBO Max streaming services affecting the Foxtel business locally?
Patrick Delaney: We've got quite a long-term HBO deal in place, so my expectations are that HBO content will stay on Foxtel. In terms of Disney, I believe its plans are to get as much traction as possible, so the price will be low. Clearly, our customers would like Disney content on Foxtel, so if we can reach a deal with Disney to integrate the Disney+ app I think that would be great.
To be clear, you'll take this model you've applied with Netflix and look to do that with Disney+?
PD: I think that is the new model for everyone going forward, yeah.
So, Foxtel will become the port for all of these streaming services to dock at?
PD: One of the ports, yeah.
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