Talk of News Corp selling its share of Foxtel belies the extent to which the streaming business has moved from blue-eyed babe to problem child… instead of the other way around.

Foxtel, which News owns with Australian telco Telstra, dates to an era based on satellite aerials and cable, and has been left with some of the baggage of that time, while competitors trade in a simpler internet-based world.

Beyond the traditional pay TV arm – supported by a redesigned set-top box – there has been the addition of sports streaming service Kayo, plus streaming service Binge and the recently-launched Hubbl.

The current excitement follows News chief executive Robert Thomson’s statement that “third-party interest in a potential transaction” involving Foxtel had coincided with its own review.

The comment came alongside a trading update in which Foxtel had dropped five per cent while the rest of News had done rather better, an 11 per cent boost driven at least partly by the impact of property growth on its REA listing business, of which it is the majority owner.

Thomson said as a result, News was “evaluating options” for the Foxtel Group, which had been “positively transformed” in recent years.