seasea Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Hi, What's the deal with TV in Australia? I've heard of Foxtel, but as a Brit that hated Sky because it was a waste of money how does Foxtel rank? What are the alternatives to Foxtel? What kind of prices are we talking about here? Are there TV/Phone/Internet bundles like in the UK? Is Free-to-air any good? How many channels are there? Is it digital or analog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatpack Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 So far I've only been to Oz on Holiday, 6 months and twice for 5 weeks and my take on OZ tv is quite frankly it's crap. Crapper than crap and Foxtel is only any good for watching the Premier League which quite annoyingly is branded the EPL. That said when we get there next August we#ll be paying for it as the free to air is really bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Hi, What's the deal with TV in Australia? I've heard of Foxtel, but as a Brit that hated Sky because it was a waste of money how does Foxtel rank? What are the alternatives to Foxtel? What kind of prices are we talking about here? Are there TV/Phone/Internet bundles like in the UK? Is Free-to-air any good? How many channels are there? Is it digital or analog? I only ever had the free channels in UK, and found it provided enough choice with all the BBC3 and BBC4 and ITV 2 etc. It is another matter here though, only five channels and all pretty bad. So we have Foxtel here, find it ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seppo Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Seasea,...it depends on one's definition of 'crap'....compared to U.S. cable/satellite TV it's crap, if you define that by depth and breadth of available channels, and relative cost. That being said, FTA is indeed limited, but is broadcast mostly in Hi-def. Cable TV can be had in different "packages", depending on your viewing preferences, and can be bundled with mobile, internet, etc. Go to http://www.telstra.com.au to have a look at it all. Rival company Optus offers a version of the same thing, but I would steer clear of them. I had Optus internet and land phone for my first six months in Aus, because it was cheaper overall (you get what you pay for) and the internet piece was a complete disaster; long story. Bottom line, Aus TV is light years behind U.S. TV in terms of selection, and maybe the U.K. too, but if you're going to live there you're kind of stuck with it. If you watch a lot of TV this may be a bother. I am a news junkie, so was able to get CNN, BBC (U.K feed and world feed), Sky, and others, and lots of Rugby League and AFL, so it wasn't too bad for me. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I only ever had the free channels in UK, and found it provided enough choice with all the BBC3 and BBC4 and ITV 2 etc. It is another matter here though, only five channels and all pretty bad. So we have Foxtel here, find it ok. Far more than 5 channels on my free to air - ABC1, ABC2, ABC3 (children's programs all day), ABC 24 (news all day), SBS, Gem, Seven, Nine, Ten, plus a few others that I never look at. OP whether it's worth getting something other than free to air depends on how much TV you watch and what kind of things you like when you watch it. You can get a fair few of the UK dramas and comedy shows on various channels. We recently watched Ripper Street, the recent series of Mock the Week and I'm currently watching The Great British Bake Off. If you like things like the X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing then the Australian versions are on free to air TV. There are also a number of Australian shows that you may or may not enjoy. I wouldn't say that free to air TV is full of great shows all the time but it definitely isn't as bad as some on here make out sometimes. If you are only used to having free to air in the UK then it's really not that much of a step down. There are a number of American series that we enjoy that are not on free to air TV here (mostly HBO shows) but we have found alternative ways of getting these rather than pay for a package where we aren't interested in anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Aussie TV whether free to air or Foxtel is crap. "Just switch off your TV set and go and do something less boring instead...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I have Foxtel and always find something to watch, depends what your taste is. I also like the ABC on free to air. We have bundled Foxtel and have had it for as long as its been around. Its horses for courses, I always hate the TV when we are over in the UK, its just what we are used to. My crap is someone elses top show, and vice versa. Like a library all sorts of stuff. Most people download what they want now from overseas. Lots of companies doing it and its the way of the future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 We have free to air (digi tv) and have around 20 channels. For the first year we complained TV was rubbish now we seem to be able to find things to watch and when you get a night where nothing decent is on (Fridays at the moment are die) we watch a DVD. Lots of people have Foxtel or Aus star but ive never bothered myself and never felt the need too. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I find that the ABC channels provide good advert free shows. We have Foxtel, mainly so we can record and fast forward the ads (a la Sky+), but it certainly isn't offering anything unique or special. Utter con that the popular US shows need a movie package subscription to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasea Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 Thanks for all your comments guys. I'm kind of hoping that we will be enjoying the outside world rather more once we move to Australia and not stuck sat watching the gogglebox! I guess that we will have to decide for ourselves once we arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 We have foxtel but only for the sport really. My son was appalled when the free to air cut back a bit on broadcasting aussie rules so he paid for foxtel to be installed. A lot of UK immigrants have it because of the EPL and other soccer coverage. It's great for sport but the rest of it is full as the same dross as SKY. The free to air isn't as bad as some seem to find it tbh. We watch a lot of SBS and ABC shows and they have some good programs on without having adverts. My wife is enjoying X-Factor at the moment and she loves Home and Away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robswife Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 we signed up to foxtel and will be cancelling it as soon as contract period is up:nah: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Foxtel is like "Sky junior". Even the electronic programme guide looks just like Sky but there are fewer channels even if you take the lot. Free to air is digital (though analogue hasn't been switched off yet in some places--but it's going totally in the next couple of months). There are 20 digital free to air channels--but not quite the variety you'd have on Freeview in the UK. The way they did it was give each of the 5 networks 4 digital channels each, one being the main channel and the other three being what they wanted. They've gone in different directions. There ARE internet package deals but I haven't explored them in detail. Some give you a small selection of Foxtel channels, others seem to have pay per view films and stuff. We've gone for Foxtel, mainly for a few of the channels like SciFi, (yeah, we're a family of nerds), Nat Geo, Discovery, UKTV and BBC World News--but it's not the cheapest. It's probably worth just tuning in the free to air stuff and seeing how you get on, with either Foxtel or some kind of Telstra/Optus internet deal there as a reserve if you really want more channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyTinKnicks Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 We subscribe to foxtel on a month to month basis and it's a waste of money! We don't watch sport so it's only really good for Showcase (the new HBO etc type shows) and the movie channels. Going to cancel it soon and instead pay for Quickflix (the netflix equivalent) and a subscription to BBC international iplayer. There are some good programmes on free to air (especially on ABC and SBS) but you have to hunt them out. Channel 10 in particular seems to have lots of up to date US shows, showing them just a few hours after they've been on the US. At the moment they're screening the new series of Homeland and Sleepy Hollow the day after the US and a week ahead of the UK. Overall though the offering is pretty dire. There are also lots of semi-legal and semi-reliable ways you can watch foreign TV for free but I don't really know anything about those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpo1971 Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 The telly's crap over here. Like it is in the UK. They have the same garbage but with different faces that Poms don't know, so they hate it. The adverts are ridiculous, I will give you that. Watching a film on terrestrial TV is like a feat of endurance. Book the next day off work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Hmmmm... Since I notice from your topic in "News, Chat and Dilemmas" that you haven't even applied for a visa yet (and may not qualify once you apply), I'd say that the TV in Australia is the least of your issues right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelchic Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Do you get set top boxes in oz. we have one here in the UK that we can record stuff on. We only use it to record junior movies for my son but its something for him to watch when there's naff all on telly here. Debs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Yes the Foxtel HD box is great and the Foxtel product is very good in my opinion. However it is very expensive. Product good, but you pay through the nose for it. It is the most expensive Pay TV in the world I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Do you get set top boxes in oz. we have one here in the UK that we can record stuff on. We only use it to record junior movies for my son but its something for him to watch when there's naff all on telly here. Debs Yep there's loads around and they are pretty cheap. I bought one on-line ages ago that you can put a hard disk in and record to. Titchy thing it is too, Just slightly bigger than a 2.5 inch portable hard disk drive cover. Has the input/output for the antenna, HDMI connection, USB connection to connect the thing to a PC and put movies on it that it decodes so you can watch them to. Don't use it anymore as we bought a new TV a couple of years ago that has a built in digital receiver and 4 USB slots that you can record to a device from. Also TV plays all sorts of downloaded files. New TV's have inbuilt wireless connection to the internet so you can stream movies or series now. The other TV has the foxtel box that we can record things on so no need for anything on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petkula73 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 There's a third option - we have an Apple TV and a subscription to Netflix from the UK. We use a product called UnoTelly to be able to access the UK, US etc Netflix content. This also means we can watch iPlayer on the PC and iPad (it's similar to a VPN). This also means I can access Sky Sports on the iPad using the log in details of someone I know in the UK. In total this costs us something like $15 a month. Just watched 5 series of Breaking Bad so well worth it. To be honest though, TV plays a very minor role in our lives compared to what it did in the UK. Better things to do nowadays! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 Out of curiosity, how did you get a Netflix account without having a UK address or bank account? Or is it something you carried over from the UK and just didn't tell them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petkula73 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 I've still got a bank account in the UK which I use to pay various things. I set it up on that originally, then moved it to my ANZ account at a later date. I think you can set Netflix up from anywhere, but ordinarily it won't work in Australia unless you have a VPN on your iPad/Laptop or change the DNS on your Apple TV or equivalent (this requires something like Unotelly). It's a while ago now, but I'm pretty sure we didn't need to supply an address. Netflix is great by the way. UK content probably better than US content, but it's a bit slower and less predictable to stream. We get the US content at full 1080p which is really nice. It's about time Australia permitted it. Not sure who they are protecting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 At the end of the day your watch tv in Australia , it's so bad you won't believe it.. I use my mates sky go account, download a programe that hides your IP address and bingo you have UK tv again. Don't believe the bull about the outdoor lifestyle and no time to watch tv.. Foxtel's not that great by the way.. I got shot of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seasea Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 At the end of the day your watch tv in Australia , it's so bad you won't believe it.. I use my mates sky go account, download a programe that hides your IP address and bingo you have UK tv again. Don't believe the bull about the outdoor lifestyle and no time to watch tv.. Foxtel's not that great by the way.. I got shot of it Interesting to hear the contrast in views here. Whilst Bobbsy has concerns about our visa eligibility and he is perhaps thinking we are jumping the gun and worrying about more trivial things, the things that make up your current life form part of your view on whether you will enjoy life in another country. TV isn't important to me, but my wife does enjoy watching some British programs. Personally, I could burn the TV and not feel like I am missing out. There are very few things that I tune in for. I look forward to the day that we eventually make it over to Australia. Thanks for all your comments :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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