TVAPlus: It’s been a big year in Aussie television with PayTV making some inroads with viewers. What trends are you seeing and how is this affecting the market?
The multi-Free-To-Air (FTA) channels here have arrested declines in overall viewing levels but further contributed to audience fragmentation. Other key trends include the rapid growth in personal video recorders, strong viewing levels for catch up services, increasing incidence of “snacking” using smartphones and tablets, continued interest in user generated content, and the rapid shift from DVD rental to digital download.
Whilst consumers are now spoiled for choice, the winners will be determined not based on what they allow customers to do, but rather on what they allow customers to do easily and intuitively. The key opportunity is to integrate the various services available and to differentiate on service model and user interface, which now requires a three screen approach – TV, smart phone and tablet.
TVAPlus: What about IPTV? How does take up in Australia compare to other countries in the region, is it advanced or behind other markets?
IPTV here is in a more nascent stage than in many other Asian markets, however, the prospects are equally bright. For the past 15 years, PayTV in Australia has been principally a DTH (satellite) proposition.
I believe IPTV will drive the next wave of PayTV growth in Australia, as the leading telcos pursue aggressive IPTV-led bundling strategies to drive growth in an increasingly saturated broadband market. Australian consumers who are well serviced by the FTA digital offerings are showing strong interest in such services, which offer complementary programming, movie downloads, true interactivity, smart phone and tablet companion functionality and timeshifting capabilities.
TVAPlus: FTA remains a dominant force in Australia. Apart from this, what other challenges does Fetch face in strengthening its presence in Aussie homes?
Customer education is the key challenge. There is considerable confusion in the market given the number of Over-The-Top (OTT) offerings for PCs, connected TVs and gaming consoles. These offerings tend to be very narrow in scope, offer limited SD or HD content, and have the significant disadvantage of having the downloads count to the customer’s monthly download Internet quota. FetchTV is what is known as true IPTV; content with full QoS and on an unmetered basis. IPTV services’ “plug and play” solution also requires significant education as customers have associated PayTV with complex installation requirements and costs.
TVAPlus: What providers do you currently work with?
We currently have partnerships with Optus, iiNet, Internode, Adam Internet, Westnet and Netspace, with several more deals expected soon. Our model has always been to be a content aggregator on behalf of the ISPs using a group buying mentality to secure the best content deals and develop the best technology. That strategy has paid off with a huge potential subscriber base, a best in class settop- box and PVR (personal video recorder), and very good content deals. We currently have more Hollywood movie partnerships than any other Australian provider.
TVAPlus: What affect will the upcoming National Broadband Network (NBN) have on IPTV services in Australia?
FetchTV can service approximately 90 per cent of metro households on the existing ADSL2+ infrastructure. The NBN will not only provide ubiquity of access to both metro and rural households, but will also make it possible for FetchTV to deliver HD linear channels to all customers and allows for multiple services into the home. We see the NBN as a very positive development and a key enabler to future services. Given the extended build timeline, however, we expect to achieve considerable scale prior to the roll out of the NBN using the existing broadband infrastructure.
TVAPlus: Apart from the node of broadcast, how is Fetch standing out from the big PayTV players in Australia?
Our goal is to provide the best content to complement the FTA broadcasters in Australia, who we believe do a very good job. We have secured content deals with many of the leading PayTV broadcasters. We also have a wide range of kids programming available on-demand.
We have content deals with all the major Hollywood studios, which means that all new-release movies are available on our service as soon as they’re available on DVD. We are the only provider who can offer such breadth, which means we’re the only place you can be certain to see every single new-release. Foreign language content is also where we see a big demand.
TVAPlus: Considering the vast size of the Australian market, what challenges does Fetch face in expansion and rolling out its services?
Because our business model is to be the technology and content aggregator for ISP partners, our ISP partners provide the reach and own the customer relationship. With Optus, Internode, iiNet, Westnet, Adam Internet, Netspace and more to come, we have nationwide reach meaning most households today can get FetchTV.
