Foxtel offers TV downloads for free

By Ty Pendlebury on 23 September 2009

Foxtel subscribers will soon be able to watch all of their channels on PC for free with the launch of the Foxtel Download service.

The new service appeared on the Foxtel site today, and promises catch-up programs as well as access to all of the channels in a customer's package with "picture and sound equivalent to the Foxtel TV service". The site promises the ability to download TV programs (presumably to keep) and "100s of movies" on-demand (for an extra fee) with the installation of Foxtel's proprietary player.

Foxtel is expected to announce that BigPond users will be able to use Download unmetered and it's hoped other ISPs would also follow suit. However, it appears that one likely ISP, Internode, has not yet engaged in talks.

"No, we have not been approached about this. Yes, we would welcome a conversation with them should they wish to engage in one," said Simon Hackett, managing director of Internode.

ISP's Internode and iPrimus currently offer ABC's iView service unmetered for their users.

The service is expected to be formally announced on 29 September — along with the long-anticipated iQ2Go and a new selection of HD channels.

Representatives from Foxtel were unavailable for comment.

Foxtel subscribers get their own version of catch-up TV with the imminent launch of Foxtel Download (Credit: Foxtel)

Topics: catch up, pc, foxtel, drm, tv, unmetered, download, vod

Related Articles

Comments (7)

  • Annon commented on 01/10/2009 08:35 Report abuse

    In response to Dicko, the programs do expire, but the FOXTEL TV Guide states that you can copy the programs onto disc and play them on other PC,Mac or DVD players.

  • RS commented on 25/09/2009 13:33 Report abuse

    OS-2008
    Windows 91%
    Mac 8%
    Linux 1%
    I wouldnt waste my money on a Mac compatible player either!
    Bad luck! Buy a PC!

  • John commented on 24/09/2009 23:18 Report abuse

    Telstra own 50% of Foxtel.
    Telstra do not peer with anyone outside the Gang of Four.

    The Foxtel online content is controlled by Telstra, thus other ISPs will be unable to unmeter the Foxtel online content without having an significant increase in operating expenses.

  • RL commented on 24/09/2009 18:02 Report abuse

    Big deal. You have to download a player in order to play the downloaded videos. So therefore you can't play it on any other player. Also according to Tom's comment, it's only available to Windows users. But I don't have to worry, because I'm an Austar subscriber :)

  • Dicko commented on 24/09/2009 11:05 Report abuse

    Hey guys
    Just thought you would like to know that the content you download is not to keep
    "The site promises the ability to download TV programs (presumably to keep) "

    On the foxtel website it says "Downloaded content does expire" so it will be available for a limited time period once downloaded.

  • Tom commented on 24/09/2009 09:52 Report abuse

    As a Foxtel subscriber it looks great. As a Mac user (who can't be bothered buying a copy of Windows and using Bootcamp) it sucks. How hard is it to provide a Mac compatible player??

  • JamieB1 commented on 24/09/2009 08:46 Report abuse

    If they can get a PIPENetworks peering agreement I'd be ALL over this in a heartbeat.

Post your own comment

You must read and type the 6 chars within 0..9 and A..F

You must read and type the 6 chars within 0..9 & A..F

Submit

Enter your personal information to the left, or sign in with your Facebook account by clicking the button below.

Connect

The Explain Series

Must read