TLDR
Network 10's Beverley McGarvey says Australia's free-to-air networks nearly built one shared streaming service, years before Netflix arrived, and that it 'just never came to fruition'. Reports from 2011 and 2013 show how close it got: a Freeview service built on Hulu's technology, which the networks walked away from.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What McGarvey said
Australia's commercial TV networks were once close to sharing a single streaming service, Network 10 president Beverley McGarvey has said. Asked on the Mumbrellacast what mistake she would undo in the TV industry, she said: "There was a moment in time where all the Australian broadcasters nearly came together and worked on what turned out to be Hulu. So we might have had one combined SVOD, BVOD operation for all free-to-airs."[1]
"I think at the time it was a huge opportunity, and for a range of reasons, it just never came to fruition," she said. The networks were still each other's main competitors, she said, and the idea needed "a bit of a crystal ball" to see that working together, "sleeping with the enemy as such", was worth it.[1]
"What would the media landscape look like if the legacy free-to-air broadcasters had one front door for their streaming assets?" she asked. "I think it would be different."[1]
How close it got
McGarvey didn't give dates, but contemporary reports show the idea was real. In February 2011, AdNews reported that Freeview, the free-to-air industry's marketing body, was "pretty close" to launching a Freeview-branded catch-up service built on a white-label version of Hulu, and that Nine had signalled support for Hulu in Australia late in 2010. Ten said at the time it had met Hulu "on many occasions" but had "nothing to report right now".[2]
Two years later, Ten's then chief digital officer Rebekah Horne told Mumbrella that a single Hulu-style platform "would make sense". Mumbrella reported then that the networks had nearly reached a deal through Freeview, but that the chances of cooperation had faded.[3]
Netflix announced in November 2014 that it would launch in Australia in March 2015.[4]
Three apps instead of one
Each network went on to build its own streaming service, so advertisers and viewers deal with them separately. McGarvey stopped short of calling the missed chance a mistake. "So I think it was just a moment in time. It was just a bit too soon," she said. "It was when, you know, The Simpsons were doing a million every night."[1]
The networks now see each other "as an industry as opposed to necessarily enemies", she said, with their real competition coming from global streamers.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
- 'At the time it was a huge opportunity': Ten boss reveals free-to-air networks planned combined streaming service, Mumbrella
- Ten and Nine set to join Hulu, AdNews (2011)
- Ten digital chief calls for industry unity on catch-up TV, Mumbrella (2013)
- Netflix to launch in Australia and New Zealand in March 2015, Netflix
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Did Australia's TV networks plan a shared streaming service?
Why didn't it happen?
When did Netflix launch in Australia?
James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
