Foxtel: Everything you need to know

For the longest time, Foxtel enjoyed a monopoly over pay TV in Australia that went mostly unchallenged. Its closest competitor Fetch, while an honourable alternative, featured a fraction of Foxtel’s comprehensive coverage. When Netflix arrived in Australia in 2015, it opened the floodgates to a whole new wave of streaming video-on-demand services, subscriptions with a low monthly cost and no lock-in contracts. Still, Foxtel soldiered on. While it’s tried its hand at streaming a few times over, the company’s traditional pay TV offer has remained its top priority.

These days, the content on Foxtel looks a lot different but the general arrangement is more or less the same: tailor-made channel packs for Sports, Movies, News and more delivered via the Foxtel IQ set-top box.

Let’s take a look at how much it all costs.

These days, Foxtel can cost anywhere from $60 per month to $140 per month. There are five different channel packs all priced separately with a sizable discount if you sign up for 12 months at a time.

Month-to-month customers will also fork an additional $35 setup fee and will have to front the $199 charge for the Foxtel iQ5 hardware too whereas those who sign up for 12 months will have those charges waived.

The five Foxtel packages above offer various configurations of three different channel packs. In the simplest terms, the more you spend, the more channels you get.

At the entry-level, you’ll find Foxtel Plus, which starts at $60 per month. That’s the base channel package that features over 60 classic Foxtel channels. Next up you can opt for Foxtel Sports or Foxtel Movies. Foxtel Sport features nine Sport channels, in addition to the base Foxtel Plus lineup, while the Foxtel Movies package offers 10 movie channels in addition to the Foxtel Plus channel selection.

And if you want all three channel packs you can opt for Foxtel Sport + Movies which starts at $84 per month or Foxtel Platinum Plus which includes all that and a Standard Netflix subscription for $99 per month.

Here are the channels included with each Foxtel package:

Foxtel’s top-tier Platinum Plus package includes a Standard Netflix subscription but it can also be added to any other Foxtel package for an additional $15 per month.

Here’s what you get with a Netflix Standard Plan:

• Access to all Netflix movies, TV shows and mobile games
• Watch on two devices at once
• Full HD streaming
• Offline viewing on two devices

Read more about Netflix.

Foxtel’s top-tier Platinum Plus package includes a Standard Netflix subscription but it can also be added to any other Foxtel package for an additional $15 per month.

Here’s what you get with a Netflix Standard Plan:

• Access to all Netflix movies, TV shows and mobile games
• Watch on two devices at once
• Full HD streaming
• Offline viewing on two devices

Read more about Netflix.

Unlike streaming services like Netflix, Foxtel is primarily a traditional linear TV service with scheduled programming, with secondary on-demand features. So it’s a little harder to track down a complete guide to TV shows or movies that are available on Foxtel at any given time. If you head over to Foxtel’s website, you can always find an up-to-date list of on-demand Foxtel movies.

Otherwise, if you want an idea of what programs Foxtel is currently showing, you can access the rolling TV guide on Foxtel’s website even if you’re not a customer.

Here are a few popular TV shows and movies currently available on Foxtel.

Foxtel Main Event is another big drawcard for sports fans. The pay-per-view system is the premiere home for major UFC and Boxing matches in Australia. Matches on Main Event are pre-ordered in advance for a once-off fee and streamed via the Foxtel IQ set-top box or any device compatible with Kayo Sports. In fact, you don’t even need a Kayo subscription to order a Main Event program. Simply head over to Kayo’s Main Event page and place your order.

Event pricing varies but typically costs between $49.95 and $59.95.

Businesses like pubs and clubs have different distribution requirements and will need to order events through Foxtel’s business hub.

There’s no shortage of news on Foxtel. It is, after all, the bread and butter of Foxtel’s parent company News Corp. News is such a big part of Foxtel’s coverage, that its subsidiary Streamotion (now Hubbl) launched a dedicated News streaming app called Flash back in 2021.

Flash can be subscribed to as a standalone app for $8 per month. It offers single-device HD streaming of live and on-demand news from over 25 channels.

Here’s the full list of news channels available on Foxtel. Note, all news channels are available on the base Foxtel Plus package.

• Fox Sports News
• Sky One
• Sky Two
• BBC News
• CNN
• Aljazeera
• CNBC
• MSNBC
• Bloomberg Television
• Sky News
• Sky News Extra
• Sky News Weather
• Sky News UK
• FOX NEWS Channel
• China Global Television  Network
• NHK World Japan

Foxtel Go is where things start to get a little confusing for those used to the traditional pay-TV model. Foxtel Go isn’t a standalone streaming service, but a companion app available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices that lets traditional Foxtel subscribers watch the content they pay for on mobile devices and web browsers.

It comes as an additional perk for regular Foxtel subscribers at no extra cost, but it does have limits. Each Foxtel subscription is eligible to register five devices but can only watch on two devices at once.

Follow the links below to download Foxtel Go on Google Play or the App Store. 

Foxtel Now, on the other hand, is a standalone streaming service. Its channel packages are structured similarly to the regular Foxtel plans but are cheaper in general. There are three Foxtel Now plans available:

You also completely customise your Foxtel Now package if you want a very specific combination of channel packs. Starting with the required Foxtel Essentials plan ($25/mth) you can add any of the following channel packs:

• Sport: +$29/mth
• Movies: +$20/mth
• Drama Extra: +$10/mth

All three packages are available to test out with a 10-day free trial. The app itself is also available on a wider selection of compatible devices than Foxtel Go.

Here’s the full list of Foxtel Now compatible devices:

Read more about Foxtel Now.

One core piece of the Foxtel experience has always been the hardware. The original Foxtel boxes were wide, slimline boxes comparable to a DVD player (at the time) that were authenticated with a physical card you would insert into a slot at the front of the device. If you knew a guy (usually a Trevor or Grant,) you could also take advantage of this system with the coveted ‘Gold Card,’ a black market card that gave you access to every channel for free.

In 2015, we got the first Foxtel iQ box. This little beauty was a game-changer at the time. It still had the physical card slot, but it also introduced the EPG (electronic programme guide,) and 160GB of onboard storage for PVR (personal video recordings.) Importantly, the combination of these two technologies gave us the iQ Personal Planner, a feature that would allow you to plan show and movie recordings ahead of time in the TV guide. If you were going to miss the latest episode of Prison Break due to a poorly placed netball match, you could plan to record the episode ahead of time and catch up when you get home.

It was an Australian answer to America’s TiVo and a successful one at that. Foxtel iQ was a rapid response to a growing global phenomenon that kept the brand at the forefront of Australian television.

Sadly, the Foxtel iQ box was a lot slower to keep up with the IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and SVOD (Streaming Video-On-Demand) revolution that Netflix’s global domination expedited.

In its fifth iteration, nearly twenty years later, the Foxtel iQ5 box isn’t as necessary as its satellite and cable predecessors. It’s a decent streaming box and PVR device in its own right, but if you want to stream Foxtel’s content over the internet, there are plenty of options to watch Foxtel online these days.

Still, if your internet is spotty, or you want to get some use out of the satellite mounted to your roof, the Foxtel iQ5 box will connect to that unloved satellite cable drooping out of your wall. Otherwise, Foxtel iQ5 is fully compatible with a standard WiFi connection. That complicates free-to-air channels slightly, but you will still be able to stream most channels’ catch-up services so long as you set up a login with each service.

Importantly, the Foxtel iQ5 still lets you record TV shows and movies and is more flexible than ever in that regard. It actually comes with a neat, stackable 1TB hard drive that you can switch out when you fill it to the brim with episodes of Great British Bake Off.

Here’s a rundown of the Foxtel iQ5’s key specs:

As the Foxtel box evolves, so too does the Foxtel remote. While any old universal remote will get you by these days, every new Foxtel connection comes with a remote packed in with the iQ5 box. In fact, one benefit of being a longstanding Foxtel customer is that even those still rocking the iQ3 or iQ4 can apply for a complimentary upgrade to the latest Foxtel Voice Control remote through Foxtel’s Live Chat.

The very latest Foxtel Voice Remote has a few unique features. As the name suggests, it gives you some decent voice control options, but it also features a few more upgrades, such as dedicated buttons for On Demand TV shows, movies, sports and Netflix, as well as Bluetooth connectivity (in addition to the traditional infrared connection.)

Recently, a new hardware option landed for Foxtel customers. Hubbl doesn’t run Foxtel but it does feature all of the streaming apps owned by Foxtel subsidiary Hubbl, apps like Binge, Kayo, Flash and LifeStyle. The reason it’s still a viable option for Foxtel customers is that you can more or less access most of Foxtel’s content using a combination of Hubbl’s four apps.

Binge has your premium drama and movies covered, Kayo is home to Foxtel’s sports coverage, Flash features all of Foxtel's news, while the latest addition LifeStyle is home to Foxtel’s popular reality television and lifestyle programming.

The Hubbl ecosystem is also compatible with a long list of major streaming apps and even offers some bundling discounts and single billing convenience.

It’s available via two devices: the Hubbl streaming box, which costs $99 outright, and Hubbl Glass, a fully-fledged smart TV that starts at $1,595.

Kayo Sports is technically owned by Foxtel, just a few steps removed. Foxtel owns Hubbl (previously Streamotion) which owns Kayo and other streaming apps Binge, LifeStyle and Flash. The main difference between Foxtel and Kayo is the price difference. The minimum you will pay for sports on Foxtel is $69 per month with a traditional Foxtel iQ subscription. Kayo, on the other hand, is a streaming service available on two plans: Kayo One for $25 per month or Kayo Basic for $35 per month. 

Kayo One offers HD streaming on a single device, whereas Kayo Basic offers 4K streaming on two devices. Otherwise, both plans offer the same level of access to the 50+ sports featured on both services. 

Alternatively, the Foxtel Now Sports pack costs $64 per month but it also includes the Foxtel Now Essentials pack (30+ drama and entertainment channels.) 

As for which service is best, it's really a matter of what you need from your sports streaming services. All three options have most of the same major sports but the Foxtel iQ box allows you to record matches directly to your hard drive while Kayo Sports offers on-demand replays on most sports and offers a cheaper, low-commitment plan but you'll need to bring your own hardware. 

Foxtel Rewards is a lot like Optus Perks or Telstra Plus if you're familiar with those loyalty programs. If you've got a Foxtel login, via Foxtel or Foxtel Now, you can take advantage of Foxtel Rewards.

The rewards on offer are forever changing, but you can always expect some cheap event and movie tickets, plus a few obligatory entries to exclusive competitions.

Foxtel Rewards is the company's way of offering perks to loyal, longstanding customers. Different rewards are offered to different tiers. The longer you've been a Foxtel residential customer, the higher your reward tier. Here's what tier you'd be at if you've been a longtime Foxtel customer:

1. Bronze: 0-3 years
2. Silver: 3-8 years
3. Gold: 8-15 years
4. Diamond: 15+ years.

Here's a glance at some of the perks available with Foxtel Rewards at the time of writing:

• Cheap HOYTS movie tickets: $12.50 movie tickets and $28 HOYTS LUX tickets
• Welcome Gift: One free rental from Foxtel's digital movie store
• Claim free tickets: An ever-changing range of free tickets to sporting and music events  across Australia
• CODE Sports deal: Foxtel Rewards gives you three months of CODE Sports for $1. CODE Sports is a subscription-based sports news platform that offers exclusive match analysis, breaking news from AFL, NRL, Cricket, Netball and more, and betting tips via a feature called SuperCoach Plus (usually $10.99/mth or $59/yr)
• Exclusive discounts: Discounts through retailers such as THE ICONIC and Readly

For more information on Foxtel Rewards, head over to the official FAQ page.