[AMA] I was an employee at Foxtel.
I worked on or in many areas of their business, from broadcast technology, subscriber changes, call center and worked alongside Foxtel's 3rd. party contractors.
I will try answer your questions posed.
Peace.
[AMA] I Worked at Foxtel. Ask Me Anything
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They dont want you screensharing the foxtel go app.
That was the reasoning I came to when I use to work at JB.
Still don't understand as there are apps available on Telstra TV, Roku, Smart TV's etc, and you can also airplay from iOS
Because theyre dumb dumbs would be my next guess
Not sure was not privy to that decision.
Costs have changed. In the past any cable customer meant that Foxtel paid Telstra a monthly access fee to access the HFC cable. The cable first policy has now been changed and you may notice the new set top boxes are Sat only and they are running down their cable box supplies.
I once saw the costs associated with the studios (in a spreaddheet) and it's not an insignificant amount.
There are also fees paid to deliver content via Transponders on the Satellite and 3rd. Party installers etc
Is that news real? About Foxtel staffs offering $39 a month full package when customers trying to quit
Funny you ask this. I recently tried to leave and mentioned the news article and no I did not get the $39 discounted offer. The person on the Telephone did offer me a reduced package. Loyalty does not seen to garner such big discounts but you may strike it lucky
Did you mentioned you was a staff? Well probably after it goes out to the news they won't do it otherwise everyone will do the same
Possibly but in the end I cancelled.
They will discount if you threaten to leave….Foxtel will also offer loyalty discount if you are a long term customer
thats with a lot of telecommunications
Not always. See my prior post.
which office
Macquarie and Moonee Ponds
Ask me anything but no answers..are you sure your not a politician
100% sure I need to sleep :) but do ask away. I will do my best to answer, today.
Is Foxtel a going concern into the future?
Near future yes, long term may be hard to compete.
Did you ever catch the lunchtime shuttlebus to Macquarie centre?
Yes for shopping and to get some lunch
Do you think Foxtel is a good company to work for?
What were your working conditions like? What hours did you work and how long were your breaks?
The culture has changed. There are areas of excellence, and areas you would not want to work. You do find people come to meetings prepared and more professional than most organisations. Usually it was 9am to 6pm.
Hours could be much longer if there was a launch or major work or broadcast event.
How did people get free Foxtel from the dodgy guy knocking on your door back then? Is that still around?
Not aware of this personally, but Foxtel does take action to eliminate impact of piracy/hacking/freeloaders. Foxtel also have tools and teams constantly outwitting these bad actors. You may be aware of actions taken by Foxtel against pirates streaming to social media.
That was just cloned cards wasn't it? Austech used to be the place to go
I'm not sure what it was, but when I was younger a lot of my friends spoke about how they know a guy that can connect free Foxtel and pay a one off fee. Was always curious about that.
(for Simpson's fans it's like when Homer got free cable I guess?)
Yeah so you could buy a sat box and a cloned card. It progressively disappeared as Foxtel got smarter. Was around back in the good old VCD days. Chances are the same guy that was fixing your PC, was selling VCDs and doing cheap Foxtel/Austar:D
1)
For 4 years I've been ringing up 'disconnections' and getting a deal that lasts 3 or 6 months. But I have to keep rining up every time and it's annoying. 4 years!Is this standard practice of continuing discounts well known at Foxtel? Is it encouraged to keep customers? It does nothing for good-will of Foxtel, me having to ring up and beg for the same discount Ive been on for 4 years straight and getting 100 excuses each time, then finally they cave. It's really dumb. It just annoys me. It makes me detest foxtel as much as Telstra :P
2)
Is the south african call centre utterly hopeless? My experience with them is negative beyond words. So much so i made several formal complaints about them lying to me over the phone, and was given free months worth of credit as an apology etc. Did you ever hear much about that call centre and the terrible sales tactics they use?Also be aware calls are recorded and used for training and to learn/improve how to respond to customers complaining about pricing fees or threats to leave etc. For your own privacy you can request to have the recording stopped.
The public are aware of tactics to reduce subscription costs and do threaten to leave. Often Foxtel retention teams will come back with a short 6 month offer or reduce your monthly premiums or offer incentives to stay. They are keen to never lose a customer but the can and do let customers leave but expect a scripted or pushy retention team member to engage you for a lot longer than you'd expect.
The South African team (based in Durban) can be very helpful but remember they have no idea how Foxtel operates and have not experienced or used Foxtel's products.
I remember when there were about 30 channels and the only commercials were for other shows/channels, now it's just as bad as FTA with ads for everything. Combined with the price, convenience and accessibility of streaming services do you think it's worth getting cable in 2019?
As with most things they start off as luxuries then become necessities of modern life. Its totally up to you.
Some Questions OP …
Any perks with the job?
Did you get Foxtel for free with all channel packs?
Free tickets to sporting events like NRL / AFL etc?Do you think the days of 1 Billion dollar 'rights' deals like that foxtel/seven Cricket Australia gig are finished?
Does foxtel (at least in theory given their financial situation) make most of their income from advertising?
Or when foxtel purchases the rights to things like NRL, AFL, Cricket, are they able on-sell these broadcasts to foreign countries and re-coup their costs that way? For example, for things like T-20, can Foxtel on-sell to say India?As far as the push to satellite with IQ4 and the like (given NBN will eventually have full use of the fixed-coaxial cable spectrum), do you think this is only an intermediary measure and that eventually everything will be IP-streaming based (like the Kayo service)?
Is Kayo really a proof of concept for streaming that Foxtel will eventually adopt, or does Foxtel actually want competition between the two entities?
Income from advertising, data gleaned and then sold (to non owned and operated channels) from viewer behaviour and audience management, and rights is tiny compared to subscription income.
Regarding Kayo not privy to those decisions, but extracting the sport out of pricier package makes good sense and possibly shows the direction of the business. Sport remains the crown jewels.
At one stage we paid a tiny amount ($10?) for a set top box with Platinum package.
Later it was free/provided as part of ones employment.On occasion we were offered free tickets and access to events but it was few and far between.
$1Bn deals will be unlikely given the state of the industry.
IP delivery is the future and the set top box model will likely fall away. It will endure though for many years.
Foxtel are nothing but flogs, IMO they should be up for uncontainable conduct, 1 house pays a price and next door could be paying $40 plus more for the exact same service, no other business would get away with it. At least the power companys now have to let people know they can negotiate a cheaper deal.
If it wasn’t for live sport ie nrl and AFL they would be gone, everything else is trash.Hi
Is there a way to cast Foxtel go with chromecast via iPad or Samsung tablet?
What is the cost price to supply Foxtel to the average customer?
Why is there no Apple TV app?