Fox Strikes TV Licensing, Distribution Pact With Foxtel in Australia

Fox Entertainment has unveiled a licensing and distribution deal with Australian pay TV and streaming group Foxtel, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

The international agreement will see the two partners co-develop original series for the Australian and U.S. markets. Fox Entertainment Global, the nascent international distribution arm of the U.S. network, will handle foreign sales for series that emerge from the licensing and distribution pact.

The deal, unveiled by Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment, and Alison Hurbert-Burns, executive director, entertainment content and commissioner at the Foxtel Group, covers English-language TV content the two companies will identify and develop before being greenlit by Fox and Foxtel Group.

The original series will land on Foxtel, the Australian group’s subscription TV platform, and Binge, an entertainment streaming product in Australia and possibly on third-party platforms in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. Programs created under the agreement will be produced in Australia by Fox Entertainment’s in-house studio, Fox Entertainment Studios, and hire talent and crews from Australia and America. 

Fox tapping an expanding pool of performers and creators in front and behind the camera in Australia aims to enlarge its supply of international TV content, including to be used in the event of future Hollywood production shutdowns. The content production pact also allows Fox and Foxtel flexibility as each continues to develop their streaming TV strategies.

In addition, the Fox and Foxtel partnership is the latest sign U.S. and international TV groups are working together to help keep down content costs and create a more sustainable business model for the TV industry. In particular, the Foxtel agreement comes as Fox continues to expand its content licensing and distribution ties to international companies like Bell Media in Canada and U.K.-based studio Eagle Eye Drama.

“Expanding Fox Entertainment’s international footprint through innovative business models is a principal priority for us, particularly as we unfurl our recently formalized structure built on three key business operations – Fox Network, Fox Entertainment Studios and Fox Entertainment Global,” Wade said in a statement on Monday.

He oversees the Fox Network, an in-house unscripted studio Fox Alternative Entertainment, the scripted-focused Fox Entertainment Studios, among other production assets. Similar to the Foxtel pact, the deal with Bell Media allows Fox and its Canadian network partner to share the costs and risks on TV series to be shot in Canada and that tap local tax credits and currency savings. The series are then destined for linear TV and streaming platforms on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.

Foxtel has already licensed series through Fox Entertainment Global, including the single-camera comedy Animal Control, starring and executive produced by Joel McHale, which streams on Binge.