http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/seven-foxtel-armed-for-batt...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/med...147782743?nk=1cd6a712dc069f21eb8e8dabd09c6e3a

SEVEN chief executive Tim Worner and Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein have one aim with the launch of their new streaming video-on-demand service — to beat Netflix.
The chief executives will today announce a joint venture between Seven and Foxtel, backed by a multi-million-dollar advertising and marketing campaign, called Presto.
“I think you’ll see the Presto brand getting pretty well-known pretty quickly,” Freudenstein says.
“I would think by the end of January, after the Australian Open tennis, it should be pretty well known,” Worner adds.
Netflix, which launches in Australia in March, may have a stronger brand currently, but Freudenstein predicts its dominance will not last long once the public begin to use the Australian version of the service.
“I wonder when people see and experience the Australian Netflix service whether some of that brand halo may actually drop a bit,” he says. “It will not be the same as the US service. You can’t compare it to a service like Foxtel, for example, which has sport, a lot more fresh programming, and so I think we obviously have to be very competitive but we’re very optimistic about Presto.”
Worner says the companies only have one aim in an intensely competitive space — to win. He says it is a long-term play for Seven and Foxtel reflecting a long-held ambition by his company to move into subscription television. Neither executive would comment on whether Ten would eventually participate in Presto, pending the takeover by Foxtel and The Discovery Group.
At $9.95 a month, Presto will come up against Stan, the StreamCo SVOD service that is a joint venture between Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media and the established Netflix.
Freudenstein says Presto will have content from both Foxtel, including “sticky-content” from their HBO library, along with Seven’s best television programs.
Worner says it’s this content that will see Presto succeed.
“One of the things that’s going to stand us apart from others in what is a very competitive space is the array of content that we’re going to have,” Worner says. “For us to have the opportunity to partner with Foxtel to make that move is pretty special for us. They have tremendous knowledge in this space, the billing and customer care, so we’re delighted to be able to partner with them.”
Worner says he is not concerned about the impact Presto will have on Seven’s free-to-air ratings and says the reality is that the network needs to move into the subscription platform.
“These alternatives are just a fact of life now. I still believe in the future of free TV. I still think we’re going to have healthy audiences — you wait until My Kitchen Rulesand the Australian Open, you’ll see that,’’ he says.
“For us, this is a space that we decided we had to be in. We can’t sit in the middle of the road, we have to diversify and thankfully we’ve ended up with the best possible player in this space whose track record is second to none.”
The introduction of video-on-demand service into the market sees some interesting new partnerships forming. There is speculation about whether the relationships between Nine and Fairfax for StreamCo’s Stan, and between Foxtel and Seven for Presto could extend into other collaborations.