It’s Upfront season, and this week it’s Foxtel Media’s turn. Mediaweek snuck into the White Bay Power Station site yesterday which is the 2025 Upfront venue.
We got a sneak preview photo exclusive. We also found one key Foxtel Media executive with a special connection to the historic inner harbour facility.
Toby Dewar is director of customer engagement at Foxtel Media. While this week is important to the business for the next 12 months, he also has another connection driving him this week.
White Bay Power Station in Sydney
Dewar explained to Mediaweek: “My dad worked for the Electricity Commission of NSW at the White Bay Power Station in the 1960s. He was fresh out of university with his honours in electrical engineering.
“He worked across the power station and I’ll put it in the context of what was happening in the 1960s. The power station was a direct reflection of how Sydney was booming post-World War II. The city was expanding in terms of the footprint of public transport and housing.
“He worked on the expansion of the plant from the 50s into the 60s. The capacity doubled because the need for it doubled in relation to the incredible expansion that Sydney was going through.
“The reason we chose the site, after Alliance Stadium and Cockatoo Island in recent years, was to find a venue that has its own back story that’s a little bit different from just going to an established venue.
“A lot of the language that you will see at the Upfront is that need for connection, the need for progression, the need for acceleration of what people are doing.
“We thought that the power station has a rich history of how it’s evolved over time and the role it played to connect people, the role it played to really accelerate innovation and partnerships.
“Foxtel Media is driving change, driving adoption, being at the front of the curve. When I was explaining it to my dad a couple of months ago, post us selecting this venue, there was a moment where there was a connection between us professionally. When you explain to your parents that you’re a media buyer and you work in media, they’re polite and they have nothing but support and pride. But there’s always that element of it just being a little bit hard to describe.
“My dad is an engineer by trade, I’m a media buyer by trade in its simplest definition. In the past we’ve never had this moment of being on the same site, if you like, and having this shared opportunity about what he did and what we’re going to be doing this week.”
Foxtel Group CEO Patrick Delany on site yesterday
Since being decommissioned in the 1990s, the White Bay Power Station has sat empty for much of the time. It’s been used for a number of one-off things including a location for a number of Hollywood movies.
Toby’s Foxtel Media Upfront role
“My role is to provide an update on a few key projects that I’m leading within the business. One example of that is the Video Futures Collective that I personally sort of lead with Mark Frain. There’s also a couple of other project announcements that we’ve got launching as well.
Foxtel Media is expecting as many as 650 tonight to visit the White Bay Power Station. Spare a thought for the Sydney pioneers who worked at the plant over the past century.
Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain at an Upfront site visit