Foxtel has begun shutting down access to its online streaming services in remote areas of Australia.
Users in “very remote” areas, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, received a message from Foxtel to advise that their access to services such as Kayo Sports or Binge would not be available after March 3.
One message, sent to a user in North Queensland and the wording of which has been seen by Crikey, read:
Effective March 3, 2025, Foxtel will hold exclusive distribution rights for all Foxtel Group content in very remote regions of Australia (areas classified as “very remote” by the Australian Bureau of Statistics — our website FAQ page is currently being updated to provide customers with specific details.) This new arrangement ensures that Foxtel is the sole authorised provider of Foxtel Group premium content in these areas. From this date, Kayo Sports, BINGE, Flash and LifeStyle will no longer be available for use in these areas.
The ABC measures remote regions based on distance from essential services. The closest “very remote” town to Sydney is the Carrathool Shire town of Mossgiel, population 26, a nine-hour drive west.
A Foxtel Group spokesperson told Crikey that “customers of these streaming products who will be impacted by this change will be contacted in advance and offered a Foxtel subscription at a competitive rate”.
It is understood the changes are unrelated to News Corp’s recent sale of Foxtel to British sports streamer DAZN. Foxtel was sold for $3.4 billion, bringing to an end three decades of cable television dominance for News Corp.
It will see DAZN refinance Foxtel’s debt and pay off loans from Telstra, which held a 35% stake in Foxtel. It is backed by Ukrainian-born British-American billionaire Len Blavatnik, who is one of the world’s richest men after making his fortune in the privatisation of former Soviet state assets at the end of the Cold War.
While Fox Sports News is included in the sale to DAZN — despite being produced by Sky News Australia and broadcast from News Corp Australia’s corporate headquarters in Sydney’s Surry Hills rather than Foxtel offices across town in Artarmon — sources speaking to Crikey earlier this year expressed their apprehension over the future of the organisation.
Foxtel recently lost out in negotiations for broadcast rights to the upcoming Australian men’s cricket tour to Sri Lanka, with Seven West Media winning the Australian broadcast rights to put overseas bilateral Test cricket (excluding the Ashes) on free-to-air television in Australia for the first time since 1997.
A Foxtel spokesperson declined to comment on negotiations when contacted by Crikey before the Seven announcement. Foxtel has been the usual home for overseas Test cricket broadcasts in Australia for the best part of the past 30 years.
