Foxtel drops Presto monthly subscription to $9.99

Foxtel Presto
Fighting to be more competitive?

Foxtel has slashed the monthly subscription cost for its Presto movie streaming service to almost half - from $19.99 per month to just $9.99.

The online movie streaming service launched earlier this year on iOS, Android and PCs, with an introductory price of $4.99 for the first month and $19.99 after that.

However Foxtel has today announced that from August 17, Presto's monthly price will be reduced to $9.99 per month.

"With Presto's vast offering of recent blockbusters and classic films, we have delivered one of the best value-for-money movie subscription streaming services anywhere," said Shaun James, Director for Presto and Video-on-Demand.

New release films will remain to be charged on a pay-per-view basis, while Foxtel has previously said that it has no plans to include TV shows to the Presto service yet.

Facing competition

The price drop comes months after streaming rival Quickflix (which does also include TV shows) dropped it's monthly subscription price to $9.99 as well earlier this year. And while both services are available on Chromecast, Presto still has yet to make an appearance on the next-gen consoles.

Foxtel's Presto is also facing increasing pressure with the arrival of new competition in the form of movie streaming service EzyFlix.tv, and Fetch TV becoming available through retailers.

Among other rumoured local services from TV broadcasters and film distributors, US-based streaming service Netflix is also looking to launch in Australia in 2015, though it has been noted that many Aussies already access the US version of the service for less than $15 a month through the grey waters of VPN usage.

Presto has however been added to the new Digital Content Guide, a list put together by content owners that provides information on where Australians can legally access digital content like movies, games and music.