Get all the best news in a Flash
Foxtel launches new platform
LIVE and on-demand access to breaking news is critical to Australians who want to keep informed about local and international events.
Mobile phones are the most popular way Australians access news content in the modern age, and soaring numbers of viewers are also turning to streaming services to access content across entertainment and sport – when and where it suits them.
The arrival of the Foxtelowned aggregation news platform Flash is the newest streaming service to hit the Australian market, offering viewers live and on-demand news content from across the country and worldwide.
Flash chief executive Julian Ogrin said the new service, available across mobile and big-screen devices, would be “mobile led” and would change the way many people accessed news.
“Whether it’s an iOS phone, Apple iPhone, android, tablet or whether you are commuting to work or wherever you are and want to tap into news, the mobile device will probably take precedence,” he said.
“We see over 80 per cent of Australians are consuming news regularly since the pandemic, and 70 per cent are streaming in general.”
Flash has been in the making for more than a year and will be available on phones, tablets, PCs and TVs, integrating some of the world’s most respected sources including BBC World News, FOX News Channel, Bloomberg TV, CNN International, France 24, Al Jazeera and Sky News Australia.
Latest research from the University of Canberra released in June found mobile phones were used by 63 per cent of Australians to get their daily news and information, and 45 per cent said their mobile was the main device they used to get news.
The digital news report also found a majority of news consumers – 73 per cent – believed news should reflect a range of views so they could make up their own mind on various issues, while 71 per cent believed all sides of an issue should be given equal airtime.
Flash executive director Kate De Brito said the arrival of the news streaming service would give consumers the “control” to watch news how they wanted, when they wanted and where they wanted. “It has the ability to make it your own environment, to do what you want at a time that is convenient for you. Until now we haven’t had that service available for news,” she said.
At Foxtel’s strategy day recently, CEO Patrick Delany said Flash was its third streaming service rolled out in as many years. “These new streaming products are driving rapid growth in subscribers and revenue as we diversify our portfolio of entertainment brands and reinvent the Foxtel Group as Australia’s most dynamic streaming company,” he said.