Foxtel’s streaming aggregation device Hubbl is being wound down, just 18 months after its heavily promoted launch, as the company steps back from hardware development across its business.
Chief executive Patrick Delany confirmed in an interview with Tim Burrows from Unmade that the Hubbl puck and Television products are now in what he described as “maintenance mode” and would no longer receive marketing support. While existing customers will continue to receive technical assistance, Delany would not guarantee the platform’s survival beyond the next year.
“There are a lot of competitors in devices that aggregate — so Hubbl’s in maintenance mode,”
“We’re happy with the way in which it’s going, but it’s in maintenance.”
Launched in March 2024, Hubbl was positioned as Foxtel’s flagship innovation, designed to consolidate subscriptions such as Netflix, Disney+, Kayo Sports and Binge into one device and menu system.
The $99 puck-style device was developed in partnership with Sky UK, a subsidiary of News Corp, using the same technology that underpins Sky Stream in Britain. A television version, Hubbl Glass, was also created through the same collaboration.
TV Blackbox understands the tie to Sky has proved a key factor in Hubbl’s demise. With Foxtel no longer owned by News Corp, its new parent company DAZN is unwilling to continue paying Sky UK to support development of the Hubbl hardware.
Despite initial optimism, the service failed to gain meaningful traction. While Delany acknowledged that more than 100,000 units had been sold — describing sales as “more than tens of thousands” — the device never reached a broad audience. Some staff nicknamed it “Rubbl,” reflecting its marginal role in Foxtel’s overall business.
The collapse of Hubbl comes amid a wider retreat from hardware. The Foxtel Group will not invest in further set-top boxes for its traditional pay-TV customers. The existing iQ4 and iQ5 boxes will either be refurbished or phased out, with no new iQ6 device to be produced.
The changes follow Foxtel’s acquisition in April 2025 by London-based sports streaming group DAZN in a $3.4 billion deal. One of DAZN’s first decisions was to review Hubbl, with insiders indicating investment would be sharply reduced and the hardware business effectively abandoned.
The scale of the Hubbl project had been significant. Industry sources estimated between $100 million and $200 million was spent on development, marketing and rollout. News Corp filings revealed at least $US62 million ($98 million) was invested in the 18 months around launch.
Hubbl’s debut in February 2024 was a high-profile event, fronted by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, and attended by News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson along with NRL and AFL executives.
The retreat also follows job cuts across the Foxtel business. More than 100 staff were made redundant in April, including about 35 from the Hubbl product team. A Foxtel spokesperson acknowledged the changes:
“This week our teams have had the difficult task of speaking with a number of highly skilled and highly valued people that will leave the Foxtel Group.
We are grateful to every team member that has helped us grow the business and put us in the position of strength we are in today.”
While Foxtel has insisted the Hubbl brand will be “maintained,” industry observers expect the physical puck and television products to disappear, with any remaining presence limited to software services such as subscription bundling.
When it came out I was getting people to buy it and then I recently discovered Amazon firestick. Never ever would i go back
Matthew Goodyear and one day you’ll discover the nvidea shield.
Athol Roberts what can it do for me that the firestick cant ?
Nothing at least Firestick you can download Foxtel Go & plenty of other apps Hubbl cannot
I’ve got a Firestick used when traveling, but use a Fetch Mighty at home.
Stopped working when cancelled my Optus home Internet account, but found a second hand unit replacement at Cash Converters.
Sky UK has been owned by Comcast since 2018. News Corp (and related entities) don’t have any shares in Sky Group Limited since then. The Sky Stream puck launced in 2022, so likely developed entirely after 2018.
As to why anyone would buy this crippled device with no access to an App store was beyond me.
If they had to make their own streaming boxes, just licence an existing OS like Google. They tried to market the idea of a streaming box like it’s a revolutionary new concept with almost nothing unique about it aside from the ability to bundle subscriptions together, which may be useful but hardly needs a special box to use.
Bundling subscriptions is not new. Several providers offer that.
James Schipper each of the streaming services foxtel has; Foxtel Now, Binge, Kayo, Flash are al disjointed and content is all over the place, not to mention hard to navigate and woeful user interface and buffering
They should of kept it to one service and just had individual or bundled packages to get additional content not this separate download and signup stuff
Nobody is hubbling….
Wow, was it even 12 months?
@Colin one day he might discover Chromecast
$100 million to make.
100,000 sold (that probably includes at least ten thousand demos, ten thousand sold at clearance.
There was a $50 cashback offer from shopback, RRP was $99 from memory, and some $40 credit voucher from the store. Separate combinable offers. I could not justify spending $9 on a useless puck that did less than a 5 year old smart tv did built-in and a fraction of any other HDMI puck already in existence.
At a cost of $9 to buy they still could not sell them and I am bewildered they managed to sell even “tens of thousands”!!
So many issues with my hubbl Puck. Technical issues out if the blue. The idea is good. Having the Binge ch with the free to air ch is good.
This would suck for people who bought the hubbl glass TV. Refunds should happen. I bought my box on special new from Hardly Normal.
Will they refund anyone who currently has a box.
What a joke. I think everyone could see this coming, and now you have relatively new TVs that’ll be consigned to e-waste once software support has ended.
We still have an IQ4 and the app aggregation they introduced, I would imagine as a result of their negotiations to set up Hubbl, is quite handy. No different to what you a get on any smart device, but it certainly made the IQ4 retain it’s relevance.
See also: G-Codes
Hopefully this means the Foxtel apps will now come to Fetch TV?
Foxtel is the walking dead . It won’t exist in any form within the next 5 years . I won’t shed a tear .
Don Duffus Duffus or Dufus? You have a degree in business marketing and management I assume? 🤣
It was crap from day one. I got one sent to me free and disconnected it about 10 minutes after turning it on. Foxtel won’t improve until Patrick Delany is gone
Does that mean we all get a refund
Going the way of the Foxtel Now box, at least they are telling customers re Hubbl unlike Now customers who first realised it wasn’t being supported when apps were no longer working because they were not updating the box any longer & people get sucked in buying them off EBay for $200 not realising they are useless 🤭
The worst customer service in the country
Sky UK is not a subsidiary of News Corp, so that clearly has nothing to do with the issue.
Kayo (and Binge also, I think) won’t stream in 4k on a Firestick. I own the Firestick 4k and cube, 2019 Shield and the new Google streamer (yes, I have a problem) and the Shield is better than all of them. Worth the extra charge.
I was given a free Hubbl by Telstra. Used it for 5 minutes then gave it to a mate. No Bluetooth and you couldn’t install/uninstall any apps. Useless. Destined for the scrap heap.
Idk how Foxtel still exists, trying to sell monthly subscription for $60 … no value for money there
Why haven’t Foxtel copy and pasted Netflix model? Seems pretty obvious
Serves them right, after bricking the far superior Telstra TV box.
Might need to look at the cattle and not the equipment.
Prefer apple
Tv
Amazon firestick and Google Chrome cast could already do what Hubble was trying to do, and they did it better and cheaper and in a more compact package. Hubble was never ever going to make it. How executives didn’t realise this is beyond me. I knew the moment I saw it that it would fail.
Foxtel (& its various ‘stablemates’ like Hubbl, etc.) seem to appeal to people with limited ability in the use of technology.
Try loading Foxtel on the lastest Google TV (android 15) – it won’t run! And Foxtel has no intension of providing a new version!
I only bought one because Kayo (in their wisdom) cut off 4K support for my 1st Gen Chromecast. Had I known what a box of garbage it would turn out to be and how clueless Hubbl’s support staff are I’d have grabbed a Firestick instead.