Just as it was revealed that Foxtel will shutdown Presto, the pay TV provider has revealed its revamped plans for its streaming service Foxtel Play. The service is being sold as a cheaper alternative to standard Foxtel TV content and is set to compete with Netflix and Stan. Here’s a breakdown of all the Foxtel Play plans that will be available in December.
Last month, Foxtel flagged that it was going to rejig its Foxtel Play offering to bring in low-cost basic plans that will appeal to customers that want access to specific content but don’t want to be locked into a fixed-term contract. Foxtel has now provided details for the new plans.
There will be five different entry-level packages starting from $10 per month. Content is streamed in standard definition (SD). Foxtel is looking into upgrading the service to HD but there’s no set time for when that will happen.
@That_Dan_Guy Hi Dan. I can confirm that we are looking at upgrading our Foxtel Play service to HD. I’d love to b… https://t.co/qWX6SfriXn
— FOXTEL Help (@FOXTEL_Help) October 4, 2016
Thank you to our reader, the-syllable, for sending this in!
Here’s the full list packages:
Customers can then add any of the following packages onto their subscription:
| Package | Price per month | Content Available | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Docos | $10 | Discovery, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Turbo, Nat Geo People, CI, A&E, Discovery Science, Animal Planet, BBC Knowledge, History, Nat Geo Wild | |
| Lifestyle | $10 | Lifestyle, Arena, Lifestyle Home, Lifestyle You, E!, Lifestyle Food, Style TLC | |
| Kids | $10 | Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, BBC CBeebies, BabyTV, Boomerang, Discovery Kids | |
| Premium Drama | $15 | Showcase, BBC UKTV, Box Set, BBC First, Universal Channel, 13th Street | |
| Premium Entertainment | $15 | Showcase, Syfy, Binge., Fox8, Comedy Channel, FX, MTV |
Those who take up the Drama or Entertainment packages will get an range of HBO content including Game Of Thrones as well. Foxtel plans to add more HBO content to the service in January.
Subscribers will then have the option to tack on additional packages:
| Package | Price per month | Content Available | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | $25 | Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports 3, Fox Sports 4, Fox Sports 5, BeIn Sports 1, BeIn Sports 2, BeIn Sports 3, ESPN, ESPN 2, EuroSport, Footy Play (Not available on PC/Mac) | |
| Movies | $20 | Foxtel Movies Premiere, Foxtel Movies Disney, Foxtel Movies Masterpice, Foxtel Movies Action, Foxtel Movies Romance, Foxtel Movies Thriller, Foxtel Movies Family, Foxtel Movies Comedy, Foxtel Movies More, World Movies |
Subscribers will have access to all linear channels in the tier along with all of the on-demand, catch up and library content available to that tier plus mobile and tablet access via Foxtel Go. They also also automatically get access to the following bonus channels:
- CNN
- Foxtel Smooth
- BBC World News
- CNBC
- Max
- V hits
- TVSN
- CMC
- Fox Sports News
- EuroSport News
- Sky News Live
- Sky News Weather
- Sky News Business
- Foxtel Arts
Existing Foxtel Play customers will be transferred to the new pricing. Presto customers will be invited to transition to the new Foxtel Play packages from December 2016. The Presto service will cease on 31 January 2017.
According to Foxtel:
“All Presto entitlements will be honoured; should any promotional entitlements remain after 31 January, Presto customers will be offered appropriate alternative content.”
Comments
31 responses to “Everything You Need To Know About The New Foxtel Play: Channels, Content And Pricing”
Do these channel work with chromecast?
From what I have heard due to there broadcasting restrictions, Foxtel Play does not support Chromecast, AirPlay, Mirroring or HDMI adapters, because this would be classified as rebroadcasting.
I’d totally buy if it had Chromecast capability, but at the moment I believe that Foxtel Play has an Xbox app, so could watch it on TV?
the big question is: will users still be stuck with a crappy resolution?
Exactly – is this HD or not?
nm, i found the answer… it’s SD. not worth it 🙁
Lifestyle and Docos should really be merged, along with Arena and E! being moved to Entertainment.
Drama and Entertainment could be merged also.
They would make a killing if they did sport as a standalone product. Those prices, while cheaper than existing Foxtel Go / Play / Whatever it’s called now aren’t that much different. That was a $25 basic package and then $25 for the sport on top.
They still have the mindset of bundling. They won’t pick up traction in the streaming market until they leave that old model behind. I wouldn’t even blink at paying $15 just for sports and sports alone. $25 becomes interesting and would mean I only subscribe during the seasons of the sports I follow. $35 is really pushing it.
With everyone used to streaming now, can you imagine how much market they would pick up if they did say….. everything (excluding PPVs) for $35?
Am I misreading this? It will cost $35 for sports plus another package no?
Yep.
You need a minimum package of $10, then add the $25 for sport. In SD.
It’s an archaic mindset.
accept Telstra TV has HD! I might give it a go and give up my IQ3, unless 4k is on the cards for cable subscribers
accept Telstra TV has HD! I might give it a go and give up my IQ3, unless 4k is on the cards for cable subscribers
Absolutely!
If Foxtel got their act together, they would un-bundle the Sports and offer it as a stand-alone option – it’s really the only thing they have that I want.
Also, it needs to be in HD, and it needs to support more devices (like Chromecast). I’m not going to go out and buy a new Smart TV just to get the Foxtel app on board. I have a late-model Sony 55″ Smart TV, but last time I checked, the Foxtel Go / Play app isn’t compatible.
Give me the option of HD Sports with Chromecast support, and I’ll sign up today!
It needs to be in HD at no extra cost, the apps need to be fixed and released on more devices. If all this is is the same crappy service then it’s not going to win anyone over.
Again, foxtel don’t understand streaming services… people want to pay one small price, for everything… People don’t want to subscribe to a service, look forward to watching a show that’s on that service, only to find out they need to spend another $10 because it’s not apart of the package they chose.
I have no problem paying for content whether it’s $10 or $60 a month. It’s the quality of the service I hope will be good value rather than just the content.
Well look at Netflix. HD and heaps of amazing content for $12 a month. That’s movies, Drama, docos etc. Chromecast support and runs on just about everything.
Something like 8 billion dollars worth of original programming coming next year.
That’s good value.
You forgot to add additional screen at no extra charge. On the $14.99 family plan and share the account between 3 others. Less then $4 a month for ultra HD!
The last gasp of an obsolete business model.
All I need is Eurosport from some other legit source and I can abandon Foxtel for ever.
yeh foxtel has not learnt anything.
$10 for this $10 for that oh you want movies too oh well that will be $20 extra.
Hi guys!
Foxtel Play is only available in standard definition at this time. The announcement today made no mention of high definition so I’m not sure when Foxtel Play will support it.
I have added this into the article.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Spandas
Foxtel still doesn’t get it.
I want to watch an occasional documentary, some films, and Game Of Thrones.
On a competing service that would be $10-15/month. (Except they don’t have GoT)
On Foxtel that’s $10+$15+20 = $45/month – and only in SD!
Just the SD alone is a deal breaker, but the price is still stupid.
If they want to stay relevant, Foxtel needs to provide a low-fee service with all pre-recorded TV/films in HD/UHD (ie. a service equivalent to Netflix), and then charge extra for the items that set them apart from Netflix – live sport, PPV, etc. If they still wanted to gouge, they might have some success with keeping exclusive content like GoT on a PPV-style basis, but keep it cheap enough that people are happy to buy instead of pirate.
Foxtel hasn’t learnt a thing. I gave it up 2 years ago because I was paying $70 a month and watching only a few of the channels on offer. These packages are no better than what they are providing through traditional Boxtel. Rather than charging on packages, maybe they should charge by channel – like maybe $2 per channel. That way I could pay $10 for the 5 channels I actually want instead of $35 for all the packages those 5 channels are in. Waste of money!
So once the news broke about presto getting absorbed into Foxtel play I tweetedfoxtel asking about hd. Well Foxtel have confirmed to me that Foxtel play is being upgraded to hd. Currently no eta. https://twitter.com/FOXTEL_Help/status/783195829372719104
I just gave it up because I was paying $60 per month and it was just to expensive for what I was getting. I just looked at this new pricing structure and worked out what I wanted. Still $60 per month, I just get less channels (the lifestyle channels which I don’t really watch anyway). I don’t see this new “deal” as being anything better.
Also, are these prices month to month (unlikely) or part of a contract (quite likely)?
Foxtel Go/Play has always been month to month. Up until this year I used it for watching the Super Rugby, and would cancel once the season was over, and resubscribe at the start of the next.
Good to know, thanks!
Standard Definition, no support for Chromecast – this is a non-starter for me!
I can’t believe they are so entrenched in their business model that they are locked into it. They must be bleeding customers, yet they still persist with locking customers into stupid genre separations, I say genre because I can’t figure out what else to call them. If they want my service back and I left it years ago for channel BitTorrent, they need to allow me to choose what channels “I” want to watch and in HD. I would watch maybe a half dozen shows across two or three genres, that’s just not good enough for anyone.
No idea, still, after all this time. It’s unbelievable. There’s far too much free stuff out there to get away with these prices. Need to put sport out as a standalone, lower priced option.
Definitely break sport out. Other packages are just a tax on sport watching. The complexity of restrictions Foxtel suffers with licencing screws them completely. Try harder, Netflix is the new gold standard for customer simplicity. Don’t even kid yourselves, if you can’t Cast, you are NOT competing with Netflix. You’re competing with whatever the standard was in about 2009.