Foxtel making cents
Feevee works on new deal as Oz dollar collapses
The move comes as PMP's respected CEO Bob Donoghue is stepping down after 35 years in broadcasting. He has helmed PMP -- owned by Sony, Paramount, Universal, Fox and Liberty Media -- since its inception seven years ago.
It's believed Foxtel, under new CEO Kim Williams, plans to present revised terms to PMP shareholders next month, aimed at lowering the average $7 per-sub monthly fee the platform pays to the U.S. owners.
Foxtel's contracts with PMP, as well as with Fox Sports and XYZ Entertainment's channels, were drawn up when the local currency was worth about 74 U.S. cents. It's been languishing at around 52 cents.
Foxtel has 780,000 subs; PMP's Showtime and Encore channels, which are also carried on regional platform Austar, have 870,000 subs.
Donoghue, who will leave later this year, tells Variety he intends to become a consultant in the pay TV industry but decided not to renew his term at PMP to allow a new exec to take the company into its next phase.
"There are a lot of challenges ahead such as pay-per-view, the digitization of pay-TV in Australia, and developing more Showtime and Encore channels," says Donoghue, who before joining PMP had senior programming posts at the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Ten Network (including a stint as Ten's L.A. rep).
As part of the transition at PMP, finance chief Tony Pollitt has been upped to chief operating officer.
There's no shortage of applicants for the high-profile, handsomely paid CEO post, and reps at Fox and Columbia TriStar are collating names to be forwarded to the board.
