Foxtel’s streaming platforms continue to fuel the company’s subscriber base but revenue is weaker.
In its 2019 fourth quarter results, News Corp reports Foxtel revenue down by US$61 million to US$501 million, or 11%, compared to the same three months last year.
News Corp says the decline was due to foreign currency fluctuations, while a bulk was due to lower broadcast subscribers, and changes to subscriber package mix.
Foxtel’s total subscribers for last year was 2.95 million, up 3% compared to the prior year, with its sport streaming platform Kayo driving much of the growth.
Since launching in 2018, Kayo now has 372,000 users, with 350,000 of them paying subscribers, compared to 42,000 the year prior. Foxtel Now has 343,000 subscribers, with 334,000 of them paid subscribers.
Broadcast subscriber churn in the fourth quarter was 16% compared to 15.6% in the prior year. News Corp says it’s due to increased volume of churn from lower-value customers on expiring contracts in wholesale channels, partially offset by improvements at the Foxtel retail channel.
News Corp reported a 6% fall in global revenue to $US2.48 billion for the second quarter.
CEO Robert Thomson says the results were affected by a sluggish Australian economy, uncharacteristic softness in book publishing, and foreign exchange fluctuations.
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