This is a ... GAMECHANGER
A WORLD-FIRST streaming service that will house more than 20 local and international news channels under the one banner will make the traditional 6pm news a thing of the past, according to the boss of the new venture.
The Foxtel-owned aggregation platform Flash will be available for subscribers to stream as of Thursday morning, and will feature news, business, finance, entertainment and sports coverage – as well as opinion – from some of the world media’s most respected sources including BBC World News, Bloomberg TV, CNN International, FOX News Channel, France 24, Al Jazeera and Sky News Australia.
Executive director of Flash Kate De Brito said the platform – believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world – will deliver a “genuine diversity” of news, opinion and perspective, and will allow viewers the flexibility of consuming news at a time of their choice, and from their preferred source, “whether your politics are progressive, in the centre, or conservative”.
“No longer do Australians need to hunt and gather for their news – the days of waiting to watch the evening news bulletin at 6pm are over,” Ms De Brito said.
“People want news … when they want it, not when it’s served up to them.”
Flash chief executive Julian Ogrin said the new service would be available for users to stream across multiple devices including mobile phones, tablets, PCS and TVS, and would change the news experience for the “streaming generation”.
“Over 70 per cent of Australian households are now streaming actively … and that’s forecast to go over 85 per cent in the next few years,” he said.
Flash director of product Brian Lenz said the news sources that feature on the platform were identified as trusted media outlets that share a commitment to guard against the spread of misinformation.
“The partners we are choosing are partners that we believe you can trust, and they are newsworthy and they take journalism to a high standard,” he said.
“We’re never going to choose a (news) partner or put somebody on the platform who doesn’t follow high journalistic standards.”
Foxtel’s launch of Flash comes after the success of its other popular streaming services including Kayo Sports in late 2018, which now has 1.05 million subscribers, while entertainment platform Binge launched in May last year and already has 773,000 subscribers.
Flash will be available for $8 a month, which makes it slightly less expensive than most of the other big-name streaming services that are currently available in the Australian market.
News Corp (publisher of the Townsville Bulletin) has a 65 per cent stake in Foxtel; the remaining 35 per cent is owned by Telstra.
Flash will be available from 10am on Thursday AEDT.