SelecTV (Australian television)

SelecTV was an Australian satellite based subscription television broadcasting service. As of January 2011, the service is no longer available. Services were carried on the Intelsat 8 satellite.[3]

SelecTV
Subsidiary
IndustryPay tv
FateUnder administration
Founded2005[1]
FounderJim Blomfield[1]
DefunctJanuary 2011[2]
HeadquartersAustralia
Area served
Australia wide
OwnerBruce Gordon
ParentWIN Corporation

History

SelecTV was created in Melbourne in October 2003 by Jim Blomfield,[4] a former chief executive officer of Foxtel, as i-view Broadcasting Pty, Ltd. It underwent multiple name changes, before finally being renamed as SelecTV Broadcasting Limited in October 2005.[5] The companies focus was to provide comparatively low-cost premium content to specialist market segments, including Australians whose first language was other than English and retirees.[6] In August 2006, WIN Corporation purchased 50.1% of the company for $23 million, acquiring overall company control.[7] By April 2006, the company said it had approximately 2,000 subscribers.[8] WIN Corporation saw opportunity in the companies rapid expansion, and direct competition to the Australian subscription television giant Foxtel, acquiring the remaining 49.9% from Access Providers in October 2006.[9] The company expanded its programming to over 40 television channels consisting of English-language channels, as well as various programming packages comprising foreign-language and special interest channels in Greek, Spanish, Italian, German, and Vietnamese.[5] By 2009, due to low subscription to their language packages, SelecTV discontinued all German and Vietnamese programming.[10]

By June 2010, the company had approximately 45,000 subscribers, well short of its target of 80,000.[11] Despite expanding their English language services, SelecTV failed to meet subscriber targets.[12] In August 2010, it was reported that the company would cease broadcasting English programming by 15 November 2010.[13] On 20 August 2010, SelecTV signed an agreement allowing its 22,000 English subscribers to voluntarily change to Foxtel and Austar's subscription services without additional charges. On 30 August 2010, SelecTV sold their Italian language programming to World Media International and in October their Spanish language programming to UBI World TV.[14][15]

In its final days, SelecTV provided subscription packages for Greek programming.[16] On 4 February 2011 SelecTV went into voluntary administration.[17] On 7 February 2011 a creditors meeting was held where the company revealed that it was in debt of $26 million.[18] The subscription service is no longer available in Australia.

Former channels
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See also

References
  1. Schulze, Jane (18 January 2005). "Wanted: $30m for ethnic pay-TV plan". The Australian. p. 19.
  2. "Time called on WIN's pay TV company". The Spy Report (Media Spy). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  3. Lyngsat (17 January 2007). "SelecTV on PAS 8 at 166.0°E". Lyngsat. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
  4. Shoebridge, Neil (2 August 2010). "WIN loses three directors". Australian Financial Review. p. 42.
  5. "Selectv Broadcasting Ltd".
  6. Schulze, Jane (9 March 2006). "Low-cost ethnic pay-TV looks a lot like Foxtel". The Australian. p. 15.
  7. Nabila, By (12 August 2006). "WIN's $23m bid snares SelecTV". The Age. p. 3. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  8. Griffin, Peter (24 April 2006). "Satellite viewing options improve". New Zealand Herald Online. Retrieved 28 April 2006.
  9. Wragg, Ralph (25 October 2006). "Access Providers sells SelecTV stake to WIN". Australian Business News.
  10. "2009 SelecTV channel descriptions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011.
  11. Shoebridge, Neil (7 June 2010). "SelecTV suffers from Freeview blitz". The Australian Financial Review. p. 41.
  12. "SelecTV to withdraw English language service".
  13. Chessell, James (20 August 2010). "Bruce Gordon's SelecTV to make changes". The Australian. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  14. Shoebridge, Neil (30 August 2010). "SelecTV runs out of patience". The Australian Financial Review. p. 40. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  15. Shoebridge, Neil (18 October 2010). "WIN offloads Spanish channels". Australian Financial Review. p. 39.
  16. "SelecTV ceases English-language Pay TV".
  17. "SelecTV in voluntary administration".
  18. "SelecTV in $25m debt".
  19. Shoebridge, Neil (15 September 2008). "WIN's on to a winner as SelecTV ups service". The Australian Financial Review. p. 16. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  20. "World Digest – Asia-Pacific". Media And Marketing Europe: 10. 31 October 2006.
  21. "Leonardo World heads to Oz". Video Age International. 26 (2): 6. 1 March 2006. ISSN 0278-5013. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  22. Truman, Rachel (27 October 2006). "Cultured Australia welcomes advertising as artform". B & T Weekly. 56 (2587): 20. Retrieved 17 October 2010.

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