Telstra completes its majority stake acquisition in Fetch TV

Telstra completes its majority stake acquisition in Fetch TV

Telstra has announced that it has completed its 51.4% controlling interest stake acquisition in Fetch TV, with Telstra stating that Fetch TV will continue to operate as a separate standalone business with Telstra.

Telstra originally announced its 51.4% controlling stake in Fetch TV back in April this year and the company had to wait until the ACCC gave its approval for the controlling stake which it did a week or so ago.

Telstra Group Executive of Product and Technology, Kim Krogh Andersen has stated that:

“As part of our T25 growth strategy, home and entertainment are a core focus area for us. This acquisition gives us the opportunity to evolve Telstra TV and the experience we provide to our 800,000+ active users,” and “We are also excited by the Fetch product roadmap and in-house capability and the opportunity to leverage additional investment and scale to accelerate innovation. Areas of focus include expanding the content proposition, introducing new functionality and expanding hardware options, including Smart TVs.”

Fetch TV CEO Scott Lorson has also stated that:

“With Telstra on board, Fetch is now well placed to deliver a genuinely competitive Australian home and entertainment solution with the scale to enable us to partner with global content and streaming providers. This investment will mean better commercial outcomes for the Australian streaming sector, exciting product development for our Telco and Retail partners, and a dynamically evolving best in class aggregated viewing experience for our customers.”

Telstra has stated that current Telstra TV users, which are based on Roku streaming software, will continue to be supported for all existing users during this onboarding period, with Telstra to begin offering its customers Fetch-based products with an “exciting new TV entertainment proposition in 2023”.

What this means for current Telstra TV/Roku streaming devices next year going forward once the company starts to roll out Fetch TV streaming boxes is unclear, and we are awaiting to hear whether they will be supported beyond next year, but will publish any news as it comes to hand.