The sixth season of HBO’s award-winning fantasy series Game Of Thrones is less than a month away. On April 25, GoT fans will finally discover the fates of Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister — all of whose lives hung in the balance last season. Unfortunately, Foxtel still has the Australian broadcasting rights stitched up. With that said, there are still a few options available that don’t require you to sign up to a costly pay TV subscription. Here’s how to watch Game Of Thrones Season 6 in Australia.
The idiot’s way of watching Game Of Thrones is to pay for Foxtel’s Drama Combo subscription which costs $46 per month on a 12-month contract. This works out to a minimum of $552 over the course of the year, plus $125 in equipment and installation fees. If you have no interest in Foxtel’s other entertainment offerings, this is obviously way too much money.
Fortunately, there are a handful of cheaper options available; some of which provide immediate access without breaking the law. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
Get the whole season “free” with Telstra
Telstra is currently offering broadband customers a free three-month subscription to Foxtel’s Platinum HD Package. Normally, this package costs an eye-watering $134 per month. There is no lock-in contract, which means you’re free to cancel Foxtel as soon as Game Of Thrones finishes. Telstra is also waiving the usual set-up costs.
However, while there is no lock-in contract for Foxtel, there is a lock-in contract for Telstra broadband. Nevertheless, if you’re already a Telstra customer or are looking to sign up, this deal is definitely worth considering. You can find our more about the promotion here.
Subscribe to Foxtel Play for three months
Sadly, Foxtel’s online streaming service Foxtel Play isn’t offering a $5 per-month promotion like last year. However, new customers can get two weeks for free. To get Game Of Thrones, you’ll need the Premium Movies & Drama package which works out to $45 per month. Thankfully, there are no lock-in contracts.
If you cancel your subscription as soon as Season 6 ends, you’re looking at a total spend of around $112 (when you subtract the two free weeks.) This is more expensive than last year, but remains a far more cost-effective option than joining Foxtel proper. The deal also includes access to Foxtel’s BoxSets channel which provides on-demand access to every episode of Game Of Thrones. Find out more here.
[Update: We just heard from an inside source that Foxtel Play’s $5 deal will be returning just in time for season 6 of Game Of Thrones. Hurrah!]
Purchase a season download
Foxtel’s exclusive rights to Game Of Thrones only last for the duration of each season. After that, it becomes available from all the usual suspects including Google Play, iTunes and Quickflix. Last year, Season 5 popped up on iTunes and Google Play barely 24 hours after finishing its run on Foxtel. If pricing is the same as last year, you can expect to pay $27.99 for the full season in standard definition, or $32.99 in high definition.
The downside to this method is that you’ll need to wait until the final episode airs. On the plus side, you can then binge-watch the whole thing in one go and you’ll have (more-or-less) permanent copies.
Wait for the DVD or Blu-ray
If you’re the patient type, buying the show on physical media is a perfectly sound solution: it’s legal, ensures high quality and comes with oodles of special features that you won’t find on Foxtel or iTunes/Google Play. However, you will need to wait around ten months — which is a long time to avoid spoilers.
Sneak onto HBO Now
HBO Now is a new streaming service that is currently restricted to North American customers. However, it’s technically possible to scam your way in using an Apple TV media player, a VPN service and a fake US iTunes account.
The service comes with a 30-day free trial and then costs $14.99 per month. Just be mindful that the legalities of geo-blocking circumvention are a bit murky.
Pirate it
This obviously isn’t legal, but we suspect it’s what most non-Foxtel customers will end up doing. Many will justify the decision by either purchasing the Blu-ray at a later date or mounting an unconvincing “non-availability” argument. (As this article shows, there are plenty of options out there for paying customers.)
We don’t advocate piracy at Lifehacker, so proceed at your own risk!
See also: Our Favourite 25 Game Of Thrones Posts
Comments
36 responses to “How To Watch Game Of Thrones Season 6 In Australia”
Well Chris, your scorn aside, I’ll be getting it sooner rather than later, in HD!
HBO Now will broadcast game of thrones season 6, but its currently available for US audience only and you need a PureVPN to access HBO Now in Australia or other countries https://www.purevpn.com/australia-vpn-service.php
HBO Now App with US subscription and HideMyAss VPN https://www.hidemyass.com/vpn/r20533/ … best way to watch GOT in Australia
If you wait for the DVD then this means that your show would be spoiled at least a million times before the release.
If you are living in Australia, you need to pay around $46 per month for drama combo subscription, HBO channels isn’t available there and if you get it through cable provider that would be expensive.
The cheaper option to watch GOT online is using vpn and access HBO NOW in $14.99 (excluding vpn cost). VPN cost is less then $5/month so it would be $20 total.
Source: http://www.bestvpnprovider.com/how-to-watch-game-of-thrones-online/
Check out the source to save money on TV plans and watch Game of Thrones Season 6 online from 24th April.
I completely agree with the author that it is completely foolish if you are watching Game of Thrones Season 6 on Foxtel’s Drama Combo subscription which costs $46 per month on a 12-month contract. This works out to a minimum of $552 over the course of the year, plus $125 in equipment and installation fees. If you have no interest in Foxtel’s other entertainment offerings, this is obviously way too much money.
But i am not agree with the solution which author provide. Here is another way which is quite cheep and you only need 20 us dollare for watching game of throne right from your home in Australia. Here is a complete guide which multiple people use for watching Game of Thrones online in Australia or from Outside US.
If you are looking for save money than you need to follow the guide. http://www.vpnranks.com/watch-game-of-thrones-online-in-australia/
i have friends in low places…
Only legal way to watch it in Aus for under $100 is to wait months for it to be out on iTunes or then DVD/Bluray…… and stick your fingers in your ears going lalalalalala and not reading the internet for months else everyone would have told you about it anyway.
Or I can get it in 1080p hours after each episode is aired.
‘hours’
“As this article shows, there are plenty of options out there for paying customers.”
The Options listed are buying foxtel, Buying foxtel discounted with telstra, buying foxtel play or waiting until it comes out on itunes or DVD.
Not really plenty of options
That line was frustrating to read.
My order of preference for all of these options is sorted perfectly backwards, I will go from bottom to top (aka order by solution_priority desc)
Has anyone used the HBO Now option? Whats the streaming quality like?
And any good tutorials online on how to set this up? for educational purposes of course 🙂
I subscribed to HBO Now for last season of GoT – signed up for a US iTunes account, then used eBay for US iTunes vouchers to cover the subscription and watched on Apple TV. Actually kept it for a few extra months to watch old Entourage, Ballers and it has a nice selection of movies. HBO Now, however, cancelled my account after about 5 months saying “it appears as if you are watching HBO Now from another region.”
EDIT: Streaming quality is fantastic.
That kind of shit annoys me. Still, if they won’t take your money when you offer it, I guess you can then consider…. *shifty look*… other options.
I’ve got HBO Go up and running and it’s great. VPN for the IP and $10 every six months to a bloke in the states for cable TV logins 🙂
Foxtel or wait. Yay for sole distribution rights -.-
Last year I waited and bought it on itunes which was relatively painless so I will likely do that again.
If you have family or friend who has foxtel and they aren’t using all 3 or their foxtel go devices get them to lend you a sign in. You get access to all the channels on their subscription (ipad, android, pc etc.) I don’t think it’s HD though.
+1 to this; worked like a treat last year for me. Very simple to set up; that said the wife has been complaining of the quality / stability of foxtel go recently…
as usual for me, free and in HD 😀
Well looking on the bright side, seeing Foxtel has already paid for the exclusive rights that probably means pirating Game of Thrones only impacts Foxtel.
Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the Murdochs?!?!
Hot damn! You hit the nail squarely on the head! HBO don’t lose anything here if we download it, they don’t receive more money if more people sign up to Foxtel… mind: blown.
Thanks for the options. Based on timing and price I think the best option for watching GoTS06 is clear. I’m assuming that HBO get a sufficient premium from Foxtel to ensure that not making it available via other means in a timely fashion has covered their forgone options. This will be proven when Foxtel renew their media onslaught against pirates and pursue legal action and IP address blocking in the court. The biggest losers in this whole saga is Foxtel for paying for “exclusive content” to ensure that their monopoly can be milked for a few more years while those that don’t subscribe prove them less right (I don’t say wrong because Foxtel makes enough margin that they’ll still come out ahead, but it wont last much longer, which is why Telstra is looking to get out.)
Foxtel can GAGF.
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho.
We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot.
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho.
GAGF indeed. I use GAFaG myself, which is basically the same thing (hint – the second G stands for Goat), so I’ll stand alongside you. Not that I’ll be swinging from the pirate ship with this, I just dont buy into Foxtels rorting of their customer base this way.
Its not why they set up shop in the first place, and its extortion how they treat these prime shows. So they can GAFaG if they expect me to reward them for their extortion.
posts articles about how to set up XBMC, sickbeard and deluge
Yep, much like warren, had it for three months, happy to pay, but then got found out and kicked off. If you dont want my omney, don’t mind ill just steal it instead
You don’t need a broadband package to get telstra’s three month foxtel offer. It can be put on accounts for people who have absolutely nothing with telstra. If you head into any store they can do it for you.
Source: Am sadly a telstra employee. Q_Q
warm up your seed-boxes and rev your torrents
Like every other show Foxtel has locked behind its second paywall, its wait for me. And when friends ask if I’ve seen the latest GoT episode, I straight up tell em I’ve seen 30 minutes of S01E01, and thats all I’ll see until I can buy the whole lot on disc.
I’m not going to support Foxtels model, and if I’m not seeing it fast enough to be part of the water cooler discussion, theres no rush. I’ll wait, thanks, just like I did with the other shows like Breaking Bad.
The free offer listed up top applies to all Telstra customers, not just broadband. Over on OzBargain it has been suggested that you can even qualify by buying and activating a $2 SIM. There’s also a Flybuys targeted offer where you get 5000 points for signing up to this deal… OzBargain ftw!
How to watch Foxtel Play on a big screen? Do they have an AppleTV app? or can I airplay it from my iphone to the AppleTV, is it in HD?
According to whom?
Avoiding geo-blocking has never been illegal, even the prime minister acknowledges that on his blog.
Please lifehacker can you stop spreading these lies? This is not the first time LH has mentioned this, and it’s 100% untrue.
We live in the age of globalisation and we the citizens of the world can buy the product we want from whatever country gives us the best deal,
Whilst I choose to pay $90 a month for foxtel, others are not so fortunate as to be able to afford that cost. (nor can they justify it if they don’t watch much on foxtel, whereas I watch a lot of foxtel and enjoy it)
Set up a US ITunes account, using ASTRILL VPN, and using my AMEX card HBO took my subscription but now says I’m outside US and blocked! A bit of a pain.
Update … Switched to PureVPN account and now recapping on season 5 so all good so far!
If you’re planning to watch episode one on any smartphones, tablets and consoles, you’re going to need the HBO Go or HBO Now apps. On a computer, you’ll simply need to load HBO Go or HBO Now in a browser. HBO apps are available on a variety of platforms, including iOS, Android, and Xbox. Just make sure you download the right app for your device if you don’t have it installed on your device yet.
HBO Go works as long as you are a paying HBO subscriber (TV version) – get your HBO Go apps here.
Choose HBO Now if you don’t want to pay for HBO via your cable provider and prefer the streaming app instead – get your HBO Now apps here.
Smart TVs and set-top boxes should also have the appropriate HBO apps, in case that’s the route you want to go.
In either case, you’ll get access to the first episode around the time it premieres after you’ve downloaded and set up the appropriate app on your device. On a computer, simply login with your subscriber credentials in a browser by visiting the appropriate site.
Do I need to be an HBO/Go or HBO Now subscriber?
Yes, you have to either pay for HBO in your cable bundle or sign up for HBO Now. But you’re in luck this weekend as HBO will be available free of charge from Friday night to Sunday evening, meaning you’ll be able to watch the first episode of Game of Thronestotally free.
Moreover, you should join HBO Now right now and take advantage of the free 30-day trial. That way you’ll get to see up to four episodes of Game of Thrones season 6 without paying for HBO. After the trial expires, you’ll have to either cancel the service or pay $15 per month.
If all else fails, you can always try borrowing the password to HBO Go or HBO Now from someone else. As long as someone’s paying for that account and you have access to it, you’ll be able to stream Game of Thrones online this weekend.
How to Watch HBO outside US – A VPN Can Help in this Regard
What about illegal downloads?
Game of Thrones is one of the most pirated TV shows in history. It’ll hit torrent sites in the hours following its release, so that’s where you’ll find it if none of the above options are available. We do advise against pursuing this path, but if you do end up torrenting it, you might want to go for the streaming option, rather than outright downloading the show – many torrent sites have built-in streaming options nowadays. So it is important that IF YOU DO GO for Game Of Thrones Torrent that it is advisable that you get a Torrent VPN before you download Game of Thrones Season 6.
Best Torrent VPN Services of 2016 for Top P2P File-Sharing
One more thing…
If you’re outside the U.S., but have an HBO/Go or HBO Now account, you’ll most likely need a VPN connection to stream Game of Thrones. So make sure you get one before the show starts.
I found VPN the best way to watch games of thrones online. mine is purevpn working perfect, high speed and reasonable price.
I got someone to share their US cable subscription with me at slingsharing.com. I watched the complete season on my Apple tv, and will be able to watch the next season’s episodes a day after they are in the U.S. This helped me unlock all apps that require cable authentication on the device as well.