Local streaming company BINGE today sent out an email to subscribers to advise of a further price increase for standard and premium subscriptions.
From October 24 2023, a standard subscription will increase from $16 to $18 a month and a premium subscription will increase to $22 a month, with no changes being made to the basic subscription which recently introduced ads in March this year.
This comes after the company (Foxtel Group) increased subscription costs in early July last year where a standard subscription increased from $14 to $16 a month, and at a time where many people are really feeling the pinch with the continued cost of living crisis in Australia.
In some good news for subscribers however, the service has announced that 4K streaming on compatible devices will be made available for Standard & Premium subscription tiers in late October this year, which will no doubt be a welcome feature for users.
Is this the end for the standalone news streaming service Flash?
Also included in the email was news that come late October, in addition to the 25+ entertainment channels already live streaming on BINGE, additional news channels would soon be made available allowing BINGE subscribers to “get your daily news fix at home or on the go”.
The arrival of live new channels on BINGE has led to some speculation Foxtel could be considering cutting its other news focussed service Flash
Launched in 2021 and hailed as a “first-of-its-kind news streaming service that lets you stream 25+ global & local news channels in 1 place”, the Flash news streaming service has since struggled to garner any traction with subscribers and in February this year (as reported by TV Blackbox) the company axed all editorial staff and their social media accounts fell silent.
The Foxtel Group earlier this year declined to reveal the number of subscribers during their FY23 Quarter 2 results, however the company has previously reported there was around 15,000 paying users for the service.
Despite the low subscriber numbers, TV Blackbox understands the Foxtel Group has no plans to cut the Flash streaming platform.
The dedicated news streaming service is expected to play a critical role in Foxtel’s new streaming aggregation platform Project Magneto as part of the suite of integrated apps.
A spokesperson for BINGE confirmed the changes telling TV Blackbox,
As we continually invest in bringing the world’s best content to our customers, powered by the most extensive and diverse content supply of any entertainment streaming company in Australia, as well as ongoing investment in producing premium Australian stories, our subscription prices have changed.
We are also continually enhancing the BINGE experience, making it easier to enjoy the world’s best content, like launching 4K on our Standard and Premium tiers from late October. In addition, we will make a small number of news channels available on BINGE in October providing more great content and value to our customers.
Additional reporting: Kevin Perry
Gee $16 to $22 is a bit of a hike. I just canceled last week.
Not overly keen on $16 to $18 per month, these streaming services are quickly turning from a no brainer to ‘what am I really watching to justify this cost’.
I wonder if the “small number of news channels” includes Sky News Australia?
With the addition of news now, just add sports and we’re back to a full Foxtel subscription.