Foxtel launches PVR service

Foxtel, Australia's leading subscription cable company, announced the launch of Foxtel iQ, its new PVR technology.

Foxtel is Australia's leading cable provider with 1.1 million subscribers to its analog cable service. Foxtel Digital was launched in March 2004 and had 500,000 subscribers as of November 2004.  Foxtel is a joint venture between Telstra Corp. (50%), News Corp. (25%) and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd. (25%).

Quick comment:  Although the product is being called 'iQ', this is likely the same PVR that NDS Corp. (NNDS) is supplying to DirecTV under the name 'XTV'.  All three companies are linked together through their affiliation with News Corp. (NWS).  News Corp. owns 70% of NDS Corp., 25% of Foxtel, and 28% of DirecTV (through it's 82% ownership stake in Fox Entertainment (FOX) which owns 34% of DirecTV).