Channel Ten finally on Foxtel’s EPG


Channel Ten Australia has finally signed a deal to allow digital broadcast to Foxtel’s cable and satellite subscribers. Until now channels Ten and Seven has only been available on Foxtel cable as an analogue retransmission. This meant that Foxtel’s digital Electronic Program Guide did not list Ten’s or Seven’s schedule.

In the new media world not being in an EPG make you invisible. It doesn’t matter that I can scan while channel surfing, I rely on the description that pops up on screen or on the EPG. Until last year I would go online and look it up, but I finally got tired of that. So as a result my family watch precisely one (1) hour of channel Ten per week. We watch less channel 7.

What amazes me is that the management of these businesses obviously thought cutting a deal to be on Foxtel’s digital would not impact their ratings. Instead it allow the other Foxtel digital channels to capture eyeballs and forget about their programming. So the only way I discover their programming is to see their expensive advertising in other media.

My informal pub chat poll shows my household is not unusual. Foxtel subscribers love their remotes, their electronic program guides and their planners.  Media analysts counter that very few Australians watch Foxtel’s channels other than sport or movies. It doesn’t matter, enough of us have stopped watching Seven and Ten because it is not accessible.

Lesson: Do not get between your product and your customer.

Thankfully Ten is has now joined the party. Now seven needs to get over their C7 digital hissy fit and make their schedule available.


3 responses to “Channel Ten finally on Foxtel’s EPG”

  1. I totally agree with your comments! I have Foxtel Satellite so couldn’t watch Channel 7 or 10 through Foxtel. We had to get an outside aerial installed so that we could watch these 2 channels – most inconvenient.

    I totally stopped watching Channel 10 as I rely totally on the EPG and never had a clue what the schedule was. Now that they are available on Foxtel, I have started looking at the EPG and watching some of their shows.

    I must admit that there are a few programs on Channel 7 that I still watch but I know when they’re on and only flick over to Channel 7 on Tuesday night to watch these few programs. Other than that, I have no idea what new shows are on Channel 7 so they are gradually losing my viewership. I have even stopped watching Sunrise in the morning which I used to watch every day.

    And what makes it worse is that I have Foxtel IQ and cannot tape anything from Channel 7!

    I wonder when they will start to realise that are losing viewers?

  2. Thanks CAF, Yes I used to be a daily Sunrise viewer until they achieved critical mass. David Koch makes a better underdog than a market leader. It reminds me of how much I enjoyed his radio show in the early days and how much I disliked it once it was popular as he moved more “mainstream”

    I hadn’t considered the impact of IQ on 7’s viewer numbers as I haven’t been able to bring myself to “rent” a device to record TV I’ve already subscribed to.

    The problem is I’m not sure they are losing a large volume of viewers yet. But there is a generation of kids growing up who have never watched free-to-air TV in Australia. So it’s death by a thousand cuts.

  3. I am a foxtel subscriber and I have satellite which unfortunately means I cannot watch or record channel 7 through IQ. Most annoying when a lot of the shows I watch are on channel 7. I am resigned to recording on vhs which ultimately means I don’t end up watching these recorded shows. It would be so much easier if we could get channel 7 through Foxtel. I don’t know why cable subscribers can and not satellite. I feel like getting rid of Foxtel altogether.

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