THE PAST: FOXTEL IQ
The Foxtel IQ was introduced to the Australian market in 2005, making it the first pay television service in the country to offer the function of pausing live television. This was used as a key selling point for Foxtel, with a major media campaign being executed in order to generate awareness to Australian households.
The Foxtel IQ came inclusive of an inbuilt hard drive to record programs directly onto the set top box, and although it was not the first PVR - Personal video recorder, to offer this service, the convenience of paying a monthly subscription rate along with the availability of extra television channels made this a popular method of choice rather than consumers forking out big dollars to purchase a DVD recorder that could potentially become redundant in a few years time. Another benefit in this service was the ability to program the set top box to automatically record any scheduled shows straight from the electronic program guide. This also enabled customers to automatically record whole series using the ‘series link’ feature straight to the set top box, without needing to program each episode individually. However, the most significant feature of the Foxtel IQ was the ability to pause live television, and consequently one of the most prominent forms on Time Shifting to occur in the Australian television realm. The benefits of the Foxtel IQ are still relevant today and maintains popularity with the Australian public, however with online streaming and downloading available, it is questionable if the public will choose to disable their attachment to hardware and opt for the software, and the more cost effective method that Internet and the oncoming NBN will be able to provide. Next Page ➤ |