News Corp mulls Foxtel sale
August 9, 2024
News Corp is considering selling Foxtel, its Australian cable TV and streaming unit, after receiving an approach. A potential deal, reported by Reuters, would end its involvement in a high-overhead asset that has struggled to adapt to the streaming era.
News Corp confirmed it was considering the deal in a trading update in which the division posted a 5 per cent profit decline for the June quarter.
News Corp owns a majority share of the Foxtel Group, alongside minority holder Telstra. The Foxtel business includes the Kayo and Binge streaming services and the new Hubbl service.
A review of the News Corp business units had “coincided recently with third-party interest in a potential transaction involving the Foxtel group”, CEO Robert Thomson said in a statement. “We are evaluating options […] with our advisors in light of that external interest.”
A sale of Foxtel would relieve News Corp of a business has significant presence in the Australian media landscape but has faced disruption from cheaper streaming rivals. Foxtel once dominated Australian pay-TV but it has shed subscribers who pay about A$100 ($66) a month for that service since Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and the like rolled out their streaming offers for a fraction of the price. Foxtel started its own streaming service in 2020. That has offset a decline in higher-paying traditional subscriber numbers but not in subscriber revenue, which was up 1 per cent in the June quarter.
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