Jul 09
31
Goodbye Foxtel.
Located in the Antipodies (Australia),
I have for a long time lamented the lack of timely local Television Programming
of current US Sci-Fi Television shows.
Why?
Because Rupert Murdoch cut a deal for content in Australia
that was so expensive that no-one else could afford to play.
As a result, to lower their licensing fees, Foxtel have no
choice but to dish up crap, followed by 22 repeat servings of the crap,
liberally interspersed with very LOUD advertising.
At my place, the two Milleniumites have decided that that
Foxtel is boring with only the movie channels and possibly the music videos and
the Discovery channel having some level of relevancy.
With two DVR’s (like
a TIVO but not, called IQ’s in Australia.) and a Platinum monthly subscription,
Foxtel comes to almost $150.00 per month or $1,800 per annum.
OK – lets see, what actually gets consumed from Foxtel
(i.e.: original content not previously viewed).
Parents retreat ? (4-5 movies a week and two to three hours
of History Channel and occasionally one to hours of Sci-Fi channel.)
Kids Rumpus Room ?
about 8 movies a week and some MAX (about four hours) (mainly for
workout purposes with the exercise machine)
The IQ’s are usually full of time shifted content which
no-one ever seems to get around to viewing (mainly because it’s repeated again
before you remember that you have already time-shifted it.)
Lets add-up the real value of entertainment received via
Foxtel.
|
|
Movies |
Other Content |
|
Parents |
4.5 |
3 |
|
Kids (2) |
8 |
7 |
|
|
18.75 |
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total Hours p/wk |
28.75 |
|
|
@ 150 p/mth = |
$ |
Per Hour |
Gee, that’s more expensive than what we used to pay for
renting DVD’s from the video shop.
By comparison, for less than $50.00 per month, via P2P the
family could be enjoying day/date release (admittedly illegal file sharing) but
non-repeat entertainment.
We are now on the third repeat of the entire Stargate
series.
However, I am sure that somewhere there is a drover on a
horse with a Telstra mobile (Well Telstra claim they are delivering Broadband
to the bush…… <grin>,) paying his $12.00 a month to receive the Foxtel
repeat fair, who hasn’t yet seen, Series 3, Episode 4 of Stargate.
BUT HE’s THE ONLY ONE FOXTEL.
For …….. sake, send him a complimentary copy of the entire
series on DVD and let’s move on.
Until Foxtel’s content becomes more relevant to Australian’s
with a lot less repeats, and maybe with some of ther new shows that are headlining overseas, P2P will continue to grow in Australia
and at an increasing rate.
I think it’s time I cancelled my Foxtel expenditure. After
all for 150 bucks a month I could either take all four adults to the movies
three times (with no popcorn) or order a high bandwidth Internet connection and
download enough new content to keep the entire family happy – WITH NO REPEATS
and NO ADVERTISING.
I find myself so desperate for unique uninterrupted content
that I am tuning to ABC more and more.
As Movies, SCI-FI and Discovery were my three ONLY reasons
for getting Foxtel….. and these are now ruined for me by
a) the repetition factor, i.e.: my partner saying…. “So what
shall we watch again?”
b) the advertising frequency – Hell advertising was why I
left the free to air brigade in favour of Foxtel in the first place.
c) the absolute lack of even a modicum of Hedonic value in keeping the
subscription alive.
Goodbye Foxtel… I'm cancelling this service at the end of my current month.
Repeat as often as necessary to the Tune:
….. Another one
bites the dust…….
Goodbye Foxtel…
….and another one….
Goodbye Foxtel…
…..and another one…..
Goodbye Foxtel…Another one
bites the dust…….