Flogging Foxtel for $3.4 billion is nothing short of a Christmas miracle for News Corporation and the Murdochs, who are not only freed from the millions they have poured into propping up the business, but also land a stake in what is becoming an influential global streamer.
With Foxtel’s local executives, led by chief executive Patrick Delany, pulling all levers at their disposal to bring the pay TV business up to speed in a world dominated by streaming media, another billionaire-backed entity, DAZN, has handed the Murdochs the keys to an escape hatch.
It’s quite a lucrative one. While the deal values Foxtel at $3.4 billion, DAZN isn’t putting that sort of cash on the table. Instead, the UK streamer will pay off Foxtel’s outstanding debt ($578 million to News Corp and $128 million to Telstra). News Corp also gets a 6 per cent stake in the merged entity while Telstra pockets a 3 per cent stake.
Foxtel has found a new home. Credit: Aresna Villanueva
Frankly, it’s a great deal for Foxtel, which has been mining its ever shrinking pool of premium set-top box customers (where the money was) for revenue and has hit the ceiling on adding more paying customers to its streaming platforms (Kayo and........