Synopsis
Due to the high cost of infrastructure and intense competition from the free-to-air counterparts, pay TV companies across Australia are battling it out to turn revenues into profits. However, the net losses of pay TV’s past are now narrowing and profits are being restored. Average revenue per user of both Austar and Foxtel continue to improve, driven by higher tier packages.
There are more than 90 English-language television services or channels currently available to subscribers of the three major local subscription television groups. The three major local pay TV providers are Foxtel and Optus TV (each of which operates in the metropolitan markets), and Austar (which operates in regional markets). Between them, at end June 2009 these three operators had a total of more than 2.3 million household subscribers to pay TV broadcasting services in Australia, up from 2.2 million household subscribers at end June 2008. This report combines a range of statistics such as revenue per operator and revenue growth forecast to 2012, and ARPU statistics and churn rates.