It’s hard to believe that nearly 10 years ago, Telstra launched its replacement to the T-Box with the Telstra TV which it partnered with Roku to bring a whole new dimension of streaming devices to its customers. We have seen three iterations of the streaming service with the last being in 2019 with the Telstra TV 3.
Fast forward to 2022 where Telstra changed its trajectory and Telstra bought a 51.4 per cent controlling interest in Fetch TV and advised at the time that Telstra TV will possibly be discontinued once it received regulatory approval on its controlling stake.
Now, in 2024, Telstra has begun officially notifying Telstra TV customers, those smart boxes they partnered with Roku to bring entertainment streaming boxes to the masses, that as of 30th October, the Telstra TV service will be officially decommissioned with boxes to stop operating after this date.
This means if you have a Telstra TV box, you will receive an email from Telstra offering you a replacement device, the Fetch Mini and the good news is that it seems if you order one before 15th July 2024, you will get it at no extra cost.
For those who may have been gifted or brought the Telstra TV boxes but may not be with Telstra you may miss out on a fetch offer (although not confirmed) but you may need to look at organising a replacement.
The news of the shutdown comes after Telstra shut down the Telstra TV Movie Hub earlier this month in a sign that it is now preparing for the shutdown of the whole service.
It’s sad to see that the Telstra TV devices will cease to work, with most being possibly between 9 years old to potentially only 2 years or less.
So RIP Telstra TV.
Alex, there’s a foul language typo in the third last sentence.
This has been fixed. Again my absolute apologies
once again Telstra monumentally fucks up the rollout of a service – you’d think after all these years they would know how to do this properly – not only did they forget to tell its customer base what was planned, but the phone techs have no idea how it all works, and when the clock strikes 6.00pm, they literally hang up the phone – then you wait 12 hours to get another call
Honestly not surprised they have decided to shut down the service as they are focusing more on Fetch TV which they have a significant shareholding in the parent company. The question is now, will they end foxtel subscriptions even though they have a minority shareholding in Foxtel? Only time well tell
Like the bit where they “shit” down
Absolute apologies. This has now been fixed
As the device is basically Roku, why don’t they just let people use the standard Roku software to keep these things out of landfill?
Honestly that is the question I have been asking, however my understanding is the devices use Telstra servers so it probably because of this reason for Roku not taking it over