Presto goes TV as the Australian streaming landscape fractures

PrestoTV
Foxtel’s Presto will add TV streaming to its lineup in 2015 via a deal with Seven West Media, which means you’re probably going to need more subscriptions to more services to get your TV fix.
The Foxtel/Seven tieup isn’t surprising in any real way — TV Blogger Steve Molk described it as “the second worst kept secret in TV” — with Fairfax/Nine’s Stan streaming media service due to launch in the same timeframe, alongside Netflix’s Australian launch, although as I’ve noted previously that’s less likely to be a stunning affair than many realise.

Where Presto is doing something different however is in differentiating its streaming service packages. It’ll still offer the basic Presto Movie service, with TV being part of Presto Entertainment at an additional undisclosed price. The local release notes that “Customers will be able to subscribe to Presto Entertainment or the Presto Movies service as stand-alone services or bundled together”, but there’s no word on what that pricing might be.
Bundled packages are straight out of the Foxtel playbook, but pricing will be rather critical here. Presto currently offers its service for a flat $9.99 per month, so quite how much of a premium Presto Entertainment has, and how that compares to other competing services will largely determine its viability for Australian streaming consumers.
In terms of content it’s a decidedly murky picture; the official release states that “The Presto Entertainment service will feature content from Foxtel and Seven West Media’s broad range of locally commissioned and internationally acquired content including drama, comedy, factual and entertainment programming. Specific program announcements will be made in the coming weeks”, but the only actual program with any kind of specific promise is Boardwalk Empire, and that’s only because it’s on the Foxtel Presto homepage along with an email signup if you’re particularly keen.
In any case, it’s looking extremely likely that in 2015 if, like an increasing number of Australians you want streaming TV services, you’re going to have to subscribe to multiple services at once, because with exclusives being flung about left and right, no one service will have everything.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.