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News Corp. has a 25 percent interest in FOXTEL,
Australia's leading subscription television
provider. FOXTEL is connected to almost 1.6 million
homes on cable and satellite through retail and
wholesale distribution. FOXTEL strives to ensure our
six million viewers find TV they want to watch every
time they switch on their television through
delivery of more than 150 channels covering news,
sport, general entertainment, movies, documentaries,
music and children’s programming.
FOXTEL commenced distributing its services on cable
with 20 channels in 1995, expanding to 31 channels
and satellite distribution in 1999 and increased its
offering to 45 channels in 2002 following the
completion of the FOXTEL-Optus Content Supply
Agreement.
The FOXTEL Digital service was launched in 2004, and
FOXTEL is now giving Australian viewers the choice
of more than 150 Digital channels. Since its launch,
FOXTEL has extended its Digital innovations by
adding a raft of new channels and interactive
features including additional news, sports and
weather applications, as well as FOXTEL iQ, a fully
integrated Personal Digital Recorder, launched in
2005.
FOXTEL launched its mobile service – Telstra Mobile
FOXTEL in 2006 which now carries 33 channels and is
one of the world’s most substantial mobile
offerings. The live broadcast service FOXTEL
Live2Air on Virgin Blue was launched in 2007 and is
now available across Australia on the Virgin Blue
jet fleet providing 24 channels of live FOXTEL.
FOXTEL launched its High Definition service in June
2008 with five dedicated 24-hour HD channels- BBC
HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD,
FOX SPORTS HD and ESPN HD plus Australian television
premiere blockbuster movies available immediately
when you want them through the FOXTEL Box Office HD
On Demand service.
The new generation FOXTEL iQ2 combines HD
programming with a huge disk drive and intuitive and
easy to use electronic programming guide making it
even easier for subscribers to watch what they want
and when they want.
FOXTEL directly employs more than1900 people and a
further 1400 workers are indirectly engaged by
FOXTEL in sales and installation services
nationally.
The FOXTEL Television Centre at North Ryde in Sydney
is the headquarters of FOXTEL's national
subscription television operations and houses
FOXTEL’s television studios, broadcast operations
and cable and satellite transmission facilities.
FOXTEL also operates a national Customer Solutions
Centre based at Moonee Ponds in Melbourne, a purpose
built state of the art call centre.
FOXTEL is owned by Telstra Corporation Ltd (50%),
The News Corporation Ltd (25%), and Consolidated
Media Holdings Limited (25%).
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