It has been announced that Foxtel and Austar will merge to form a national subscription television service. The merger is subject to decision by ACCC, and pending approval by the Federal Court of the shareholder vote.
“The new national FOXTEL will be one of Australia’s most progressive and dynamic media companies, it will directly employ 2500 people and support a subscription television sector which spends close to $600 million a year on new and original Australian content,” FOXTEL’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Freudenstein.
Mr Freudenstein commented that FOXTEL currently services the major metropolitan cities and Western Australia, while AUSTAR services rural and regional Australia. FOXTEL and AUSTAR share 50:50 ownership of the major subscription TV channels group XYZ Entertainment. When the merger is completed, FOXTEL will own 100 per cent of XYZ.