Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh has welcomed CBS’s purchase of the Ten Network, however, he’s less impressed that Foxtel’s $77 million investment in the broadcaster appears all but lost.
In a wide ranging speech in Melbourne yesterday, Tonagh said of the CBS move: “The one thing I know having spoken to the CBS team is they don’t see this as short-term investment to flip the business” his comments reported on Fairfax Media websites.
“They see it as a long-term investment to build the business. That can only be good for the industry,” he said.
When it comes to the Multi Channel Network (MCN) – that sells ads on both Ten and Foxtel – Tonagh was less clear of its future role. Tonagh is also an MCN chair.
CBS has already announced it will launch its streaming video on demand service All Access in Australia and Tonagh believed SVODs would become a very crowded and competitive part of the local market.
“There will be more and more of these services… [and] ultimately Australian consumers won’t want to have lots and lots of them,” Tonagh said.
“I think they’ll want to have an aggregator that does a lot of work for them. Our [Foxtel’s] role is as the aggregator,” he said.