verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message optus television type division of optus industry pay television founded 19 september 1995 1 headquarters melbourne australia area served australia key people paul o sullivan chief executive products optus tv featuring foxtel digital foxtel iq optus tv with fetch parent optus website www.optus.com.au optus television is the cable television division of australian telecommunications company optus . contents 1 history 1.1 satellite broadcasting 1.2 sports programming 2 subscriber numbers 3 optus itv trials 4 optus tv featuring foxtel 5 optus tv featuring foxtel digital 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit its immediate predecessor was optus vision a joint venture between optus and continental cablevision with small shareholdings by media companies publishing and broadcasting limited and seven network . 1 the optus vision joint venture was founded to handle residential cable television and local telephony while its parent concentrated on corporate long distance satellite and interstate communications . optus vision used a hybrid fibre coaxial cable network to connect homes to its network . optus vision added broadband cable internet access to its network . optus vision used the optus telecommunications licence as authority to build a cable network . the optus vision network was rolled out in sydney melbourne and brisbane . the major competitor to optus vision was foxtel a 50 50 joint venture between telstra and news corporation . these competed heavily in the metropolitan areas . optus vision negotiated exclusive access to afl aussie rules football rugby league and other sports . it also had exclusive access to disney channel espn and mtv australia though it always lacked the general entertainment channels that foxtel had . optus vision commenced its cable tv service in september 1995 one month before foxtel delivering a limited number of channels to a small number of subscribers all of whom were connected via its blacktown exchange . from 1995 to 1997 the super league war waged between the two consortia over lucrative rugby league rights . in march 1997 optus bought out the other shareholders in exchange for equity in itself to float . 2 in 2002 optus let go of some of its exclusive content contracts replacing them with non exclusive ones . mtv australia disney channel espn and the premium movie network channels all became available on foxtel as soon as they were able . in 2009 optus television stopped offering its service to new subscribers with service still available to existing subscribers . 3 from february 2011 optus were again offering optus tv featuring foxtel including iq2 services . 4 on february 14 2016 singtel optus renewed their contract with astro fetch tv in preparation for the 2016 17 epl season . satellite broadcasting edit optus along with austar had a joint venture in the use of satellite broadcasting for the delivery of subscription television . originally foxtel had not previously offered a satellite service until purchasing the satellite subscribers from australis media within their service area . until 2004 foxtel was a customer of the austar optus joint venture . optus utilised this joint venture to initially trial and subsequently offer a basic satellite service named vip . the service was very select with not many being able to access the service . it was also offered to norfolk island and some smart cards were enabled for some residents who had the required satellite receiving equipment to take part in a trial of the service . the ability to offer the service came about due to optus offering a large number of channels to east coast television now a part of austar . after optus axed the vip service it also sold its share in the joint venture to austar . in 2004 the roles reversed and austar became the customer to foxtel for satellite delivery . sports programming edit until 2002 optus did not offer the fox sports sporting channels on their service as foxtel and austar did instead offering channels from sportsvision later c7 sport and espn . during the super league arl war the optus sports channels had the rights to the arl competition and the super league rights were held by fox sports . seven bought sportsvision which became optus and austar exclusive c7 sport and progressively lost sporting rights to fox sports . during that time foxtel granted optus an nrl channel screening all of the nrl matches that had previously been shown exclusively on the foxtel platform . c7 sport for some time had attempted to access the foxtel platform for their service however foxtel were hesitant to accede to the request with one exception being the 2000 sydney olympics where c7 offered two extra channels dedicated to olympics coverage . in 2000 seven and c7 sport lost the afl rights to a nine ten and foxtel based consortium leaving c7 with only the olympics and 6 nations rugby rights of major substance . in march 2002 the commencement of the new afl broadcasting deal with foxtel led optus and austar to drop c7 sport from their services leading to the demise of the channel . optus replaced the c7 channels with an optus rebadged version of fox sports . optus dropped the optus sports name in october 2002 . the dropping of the c7 service led to optus being a party in the unsuccessful legal action taken by the seven network over the demise of the c7 sport service . for more details on the demise of c7 and the resulting litigation see c7 sport . on july 13 2016 optus launched optus sport a group of sports channels that were established to televise the premier league . subscriber numbers edit for some time optus has not explicitly released subscriber numbers for their optus television service however combining them with other services offered under the division of which optus television is a part . since december 2002 subscriber numbers have dropped considerably to almost half of the 241 000 reported . citation needed since that time optus has repositioned its television service to being a major component of bundled services rather than a service by itself . by august 2010 only 96 000 subscribers remained . 3 optus itv trials edit during 2002 03 optus trialled interactive digital television over part of its sydney network . the service was being built from 2000 . this service was known as optus itv . the service was unique to optus and had a good deal of positive consumer feedback . the itv service utilised the liberate platform instead of opentv as used by foxtel digital . the trials were cancelled by optus after the content supply agreement with foxtel was reached . one byproduct of the new agreement was the re engineering of the optus itv broadcast centre in macquarie park to become the new broadcast centre for foxtel . a notable difference between optus itv and foxtel digital was that the optus system used the same hfc cable network both for delivery and for the return path meaning no additional hardware or service was required for this return path . by contrast the foxtel digital system at the time relied on a telephone connection for the return path . the advantage of this system is that it is platform neutral meaning that the same telephone based return path can be used for both cable and satellite installations . the optus itv system also allowed near video on demand nvod not true video on demand . foxtel digital now provides near video on demand as well . featured content broadcast on multiple channels with staggered start times available at frequent intervals . some new foxtel services offer a video on demand ability for limited product various transmission paths offer a broader vod version . other potential features of optus itv included e mail and walled garden internet access . optus tv featuring foxtel edit former optus television logo after signing up to the content supply agreement with foxtel optus television changed their channel line up to reflect the offerings from foxtel . optus were able to have a number of differences between their offering and the foxtel offering so that optus could meet some contractual obligations they had as well as satisfying a number of requirements placed on the organisation by the accc . a number of channels that had previously been unique to optus in comparison with foxtel such as the odyssey channel were removed from the optus line up as they competed with channels that foxtel offered . other channels crossed from optus to the foxtel line up such as the ovation channel . optus was required to have a number of channels that were unique to their service though the flagged channels are now available on both platforms without any change in regulation nor penalty . optus tv featuring foxtel digital edit in april 2005 foxtel granted optus the right to carry the foxtel digital platform one year after being available to foxtel subscribers the service would be resold by optus utilising the same equipment as foxtel such as the foxtel set top box remote nds technologies for encryption and opentv for interactivity delivery . this agreement also allows for non exclusive resale rights to the foxtel digital service using satellite delivery within foxtel s service area . commencing trials in november 2005 the service became fully operational in december of the same year . optus is believed to be permitting wholesale access to the network so third party broadcasters can sell subscription services over optus cable . see also edit television in australia portal subscription television in australia references edit a b lecky sue 21 september 1994 . optus grabs lead in pay tv . business . sydney morning herald . p. 41 . retrieved 13 july 2010 . kidman matthew 29 march 1997 . optus to float as dispute settled . business . sydney morning herald . p. 41 . retrieved 29 august 2010 . a b shoebridge neil 23 august 2010 . foxtel presses for fresh pay tv deal . marketing & media . australian financial review . p. 55 . retrieved 29 august 2010 . chessell james ; bingemann mitchell 22 december 2010 . optus to market foxtel packages . the australian . p. 23 . archived from the original on 23 december 2010 . retrieved 23 december 2010 . external links edit v t e subscription television channels in australia fetch tv foxtel optus television transact channels entertainment & drama 111 13th street a & e arena bbc first bbc uktv binge boxsets comedy central the comedy channel e fox8 foxtel arts fox classics fx mtv showcase spike syfy tvh ts universal channel lifestyle lifestyle lifestyle food lifestyle home lifestyle you style . tlc religious australian christian channel daystar home shopping expo channel tvsn movies foxtel movies turner classic movies world movies sport bein sports espn espn2 eurosport eurosport news fox footy fox sports fox sports news main event optus sport sky racing news a pac al jazeera english bbc world news bloomberg television channel newsasia cctv news cnbc australia cnn international euronews fox news channel hln ndtv 24x7 nhk world rt sky news australia sky news business channel sky news election channel sky news weather channel documentary animal planet bbc knowledge crime & investigation network discovery channel discovery home & health discovery science discovery turbo history national geographic channel nat geo wild nat geo people tlc kids & family boomerang cartoon network cbeebies discovery kids disney channel disney junior disney xd nick jr. nickelodeon music cmc max mtv dance mtv music smooth v hits specialty al jazeera ant1 pacific art aurora community channel the filipino channel ldc rai italia defunct asia business news bbc hd bio c7 sport channel v cnnfn country music television discovery hd world fox