Price cut boosts Foxtel subs

Australian pay TV platform Foxtel has lifted subscriber numbers by 4.7% after cutting the price of its basic package in half.

The company, co-owned by News Corp and telco Telstra, had 2.6 million subs at December 31 – an increase of 118,000.

However, revenue in the second half of 2014 grew by just 1.2% to A$1.5bn (US$1.14bn), impacted by a drop in advertising income, Telstra reported today.

Foxtel halved its monthly starter package to A$25, repackaged its tiers and launched the BoxSets channel on November 3.

In the second half of last year the churn rate fell by 1% to 11.4%, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation edged up by 0.4% to A$470m.

Analysts are expecting a further surge in subs as Foxtel has started bundling its channels with broadband and telco services with Telstra.