The station, backed by Astro in Malaysia, is reportedly banking on video-on-demand (SVOD), market partner Optus’s English Premier League (EPL) acquisition, and two proposed set boxes.
“After an extended period of soft launch, our telco partners began to truly market and bundle the service,” said Fetch TV Chief Executive Scott Lorson. “Fetch has benefitted from welcoming streaming services in Australia.”
“We have put Netflix and Stan, owned jointly by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media, onto the service.”
Briefly, Fetch was able to leverage the interest in SVODs by integrating key platforms, “providing customers with not only great content”, but a simple way to access them.
Lorson expects the next change to come with the introduction of the two new next-generation products, a PVR (personal video recorder) and a mini. This ties in with Optus’s acquisition of exclusive EPL. The mini gives ISPs a cost base so that they can include more bundles.
“We will transition to a content and marketing company as we go for mass market adoption,” resumed Lorson. “We now have the products and our partnerships in a very exciting place.”
“We have come through a sustained period in investment and development.”
The bottomline is that Fetch TV has established a very strong strategic position in the market to behave like a “challenger”, grow its base, and grow the market, to ensure that it can optimise the substantial opportunities in front of it. The subscriber ambitions are very high but the market will dictate how that plays out.
Fetch TV faces strong competition from Foxtel, owned equally by News Corporation and Telstra, and numerous streaming services. These include Disney and Amazon, Telstra and Telstra TV.
Foxtel has a 2.9 million customer base.
Fetch TV has a long-term contract with Optus for the provision of subscription television. Ninety five per cent of sales so far have been through partnerships with internet service providers (ISPs). Besides Optus, the aggressive pick-up in marketing also came from partners like iiNet and M2’s Dodo.
Astro holds a 75 per cent stake in Fetch TV after converting debts to shares. Earlier, the deep-pocketed Malaysian pay TV station held a 45 per cent stake.
Last year, according to the SMH report, Fetch TV doubled from 150,000 subscribers to 300, 000. It took three years to reach 100,000 subscribers, and another 14 months to add 50, 000.