Foxtel responds to TMN report on UMA dispute

In a statement emailed to TMN, Foxtel has confirmed its dispute with Universal Music Australia.

As reported by TMN yesterday, music videos from some of the world’s biggest acts including Justin Bieber and The Weeknd have not appeared on all five of Foxtel’s owned and operated music channels for the past two weeks. Foxtel Arts and its audio streaming service Foxtel Tunes is unaffected as it’s a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Australia and UMA, as are MTV’s channels – MTV Australia has its own independent deals with labels.

According to Foxtel’sstatement it is now clear that the decision not to play music videos by Universal Music artists was made by Foxtel during its negotiations with the major label.

“Foxtel has been in negotiations with Universal Music for some weeks to resolve a commercially viable agreement to continue to showcase Universal Music artists and music on our five music channels. Regrettably we have not resolved our commercial issues, which has forced us to pull all Universal acts from our contemporary music channels,” Foxtel stated. “[…] The Foxtel music channels can continue without Universal artists however, it is not our desired outcome.”

So far there has been no comment from Universal Music Australia.