Foxtel WG
Foxtel WG (Foxtel Węstgeɍmanję) is the only pay telivision company in West Germania, operated by the Australian-American News Corporation.
History
On 31st July 2007, it was decided by the West Germanic Parliament that every housing block should be fitted with a 150cm satellite dish free of charge. Since at the time, there was no native broadcasting standard, many residents tried to set up their own dishes so that they could receive free-to-air European channels or used dubious methods to receive premium services from European companies such as Sky Digital, Canal, Premiere and Sky Italia. Much of the population, who did not have the know-how or couldn't afford to pay inro an over-priced black market, often resorted to downloading illegal torrents. The Nationalist Party argued that the plan would cost a lot of money to implement and that the government should instead offer a service whereby people paid them for satellite installation in order to resolve the black-market situation. Despite the launch of an appeal, it was eventually agreed that West Germanic residents should be entitled to the same as in other countries, which broadcast free in terrestrial: West Germania has never had a terrestrial network.
On 28th October 2008, when the appeal came to an end, a compromise between the Nationalist, Liberal and Socialist Parties resulted in the creation of a two-tier television service. Between August 2007 and October 2008, every housing block had been satellite-enabled. The Activation Day (1st November 2008) saw every resident receive free, legal access to 'permitted' analogue, FTA broadcasts from Western and Central Europe in addition to the new national network WUS (Woɍųld ųmbę Us). The digital market was effectively privatised, but the interested party Foxtel was allocated a Compulsory Monopoly by the Communist Party to ensure that it would be the only such service. On 9th November, Foxtel would begin its encrypted transmission of digital, upscaled SD and HD services not only from WUS1, WUS2 and Europe, but also exclusive entertainment, film, sport and factual content. A controversy was sparked on this date when the nationalised fibre-optic broadband was capped at 10 Mbps speed and a 10 GB download limit with Foxtel providing a 'new' unlimited ISP to entice customers and increase revenue for the government.
