In 2012, prior to market entry of some major digital streaming services to Australia, only about 28% of Australian homes had a pay TV subscription, which was one of the lowest subscriber rates in the developed world.
[1] By 2019, the situation had evolved so that almost 14 million Australians had access to a paid television or video on demand service.
[2] Galaxy was the first provider of subscription television in Australia, launching a MMDS service on 26 January 1995.
[3] Originally Premier Sports Network was the only local channel to be fully operational, with Showtime and Encore launching in March.
Also in 2004, TV PLUS launched its Ethnic platforms catering for Balkans, Russians and other Eastern European communities.
[citation needed] Fetch TV entered the market in 2010 with a subscription service over a few ADSL2+ networks.
[25] The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter.
Excluding internet-based services, Foxtel is the sole remaining "traditional" mainstream pay TV operator in Australia; Foxtel's satellite service is also the last remaining offering in the field, having acquired Austar in 2012 and Optus having withdrawn their cable offering due to the transfer of the network infrastructure.
Foxtel's upcoming iQ5 (and possibly the existing iQ4) set-top-boxes are also intending to support an "internet-only" mode which doesn't require a satellite signal to operate.