What shows on pay TV are worth checking out?
Do you think it’s worth paying money for a few extra channels on Pay TV? I’m in the process of deciding…
I’ve just moved into a new home and haven’t had Foxtel installed. There are a few reasons – for one, it’s expensive, and secondly when we did have Foxtel, there never seemed to be anything on. Often I’d be stuck with reruns of Scrubs, Law and Order, or I’d be outvoted and Fox Sports would be turned on. We decided that reruns probably weren’t worth $60 per month – after all, if there was a series we really liked, we could just borrow the DVD, right?
Most of the time, I’m perfectly satisfied with the offerings on free to air. I love Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters and Packed to the Rafters (which is back on TV in mere weeks!) and Masterchef on Channel 10 has proved a great alternative to Top Chef on Arena. I’ve also been watching more interesting documentaries on SBS and ABC which I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I’d had more channels to plough through. However there have been some hitches.
Live sports is one of them. I’m a bit of a soccer fan and last week the Socceroos played Qatar at an ungodly 2am. With no Fox Sports and not wanting to grace a pub at such an hour, I thought I was going to miss out on witnessing history (we qualified for the 2010 World Cup for those who missed it). Fortunately, a generous friend taped the match and replayed it at her house at a far more palatable 10:30am the next day. Crisis averted!
Secondly, the borrowing DVD plan has come unstuck. When you go to Blockbuster, you usually can only keep a DVD for a week, so for an entire TV series, that’s a bit of a rush. Sometimes I have other things to do apart from watch TV like play sport, see friends and … oh yeah, go to work.
Finally, I do actually quite like some of the Foxtel offerings! Australia’s Next Top Model was such fun; Project Runway was incredibly inspiring and I loved to marvel at the architectural masterpieces in Grand Designs. To be honest, I even miss Scrubs (I know it’s on Channel 7 however unfortunately it’s on at the same time as Top Gear and yet again, I get outvoted).
So now the question of whether to get Foxtel has come up again. Should we believe the ads and get it because then we won’t go out as much? What shows on pay TV do you think makes it worthwhile? Or should we just wait and hope that something decent comes up on Freeview… What are your thoughts?
Caitlin
Community Manager
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We have been cable subscribers for nearly 15 years, the last 10 with Foxtel. I personally think if you are going to get Fox, the small amount extra to have IQ is well worth it.
I work 7am to 4pm, husband works 8pm to 4am (healthy) so many programs are on when we are unable to watch them so we program IQ and watch them later. For me, when husband is gone for the night, for him, I program anything I think he will like and he watches it when he gets home. This week it has been the ICC 20/20 cricket and it has put me in the good books lol. He gets home and loves to watch it and lucky me – I do not have to suffer it.
Its also great for linking series so everyday almost, I have something waiting to be viewed. It means if there is nothing on free to air, I pick one of the shows lined up for me,
Admittedly, we have a platinun package so it costs about $110 a month but when you break it down its less than $30 per week and just a night at the pub for us is a minimum $100 so I can justify it.
I could not be without it
The question is not whether it is worth it to get extra channels, the question is whether pay TV is worth getting at all. In my estimation, it isn’t.
I had it several years ago and the distributor went bankrupt. When the distributor closed I kept the gear for a few years but last year tipped in in the trash. No great loss.
The movie channels were good, the Discovery Channel was an endless series of cheap docos about sharks, lions & other predators or one-eyed American stuff about aviation (nobody but an American ever even got in an aircraft). The sports channel was mostly baseball and gridiron when it wasn’t golf. Boring.
Some people on Yahoo! Answers are calling the History Channel the Hysteria Channel because of their support of the vicious liars and frauds promoting the 2012 thing.
The reputation of Fox News is so bad that there is no way I will pay to have it.
If I am paying to watch, I can do without advertisments. If it’s free to air then advertisments are justified.
Ken E
Flight of the Conchords
I have mixed feelings about pay TV. Initially we signed up to get us through the Christmas period. We have had it for two years and the first few months it was fun, especially since the first month we received all channels for free as part of a deal. After that it got a bit disappointing as we only had the basic package and found that any of the good shows were repeated a few months later. We did upgrade to some of the movie channels though so that we could save some money by staying in to watch them. But it is pot luck and again they are repeated. But I do like the fact that I can order movies easily, especially when it is cold an a trip to Blockbuster would be a drag, not to mention more expensive. There are some shows that I really enjoy such as The Secret Millionaire, Property Ladder, Relocation Relocation, Selling Houses Australia and Project Runway as well as repeats of the Sex in the City (can’t get enough of this) and the first run of Ladette to Lady. I work from home and can easily plan my day around the times they are on, then in the evening I watch normal TV with my husband. I must say I have been watching pay TV more just to get our moneys worth though, but I do go out a lot less these days anyway. We pay $66 a month which is around $16.50 a week. Two people can’t even go to the movies for that!
ok
i have foxtel
and i couldnt live without it
my favourite channels are [v], [v]2, mtv and fox8
on [v]/[v]2 you can watch nonstop music videos, and im obsessed with music, so that is one of my faves. And on fox8 you can watch simpsons/family guy/futurama all the time, my younger brother loves that. And also Disney and Nickelodeon are great for kids (:
i say GO CABLE!
WEll folks, I think pay TV is rubbish and all those adds and repeats, free to air is good most of the time, can spend my money on better things.NO says me to payed TV…………..
I guess it depends if you think the extra channels are worth what you pay for them – often if a series is good its put on DVD – and quite often if you wait a few months you can buy the DVDs quite cheap. Or borrow the dvds from one of the online places that send them to you (they normally let you keep them as long as you like) – same goes for movies. A great idea for free to air tv is to buy yourself a PVR (get one with twin tuners) – then you can record 2 channels on that (while watching a third on your normal tv) and just watch what you’ve recorded whenever you like.
I don’t think paying for extra tv is worth it.
I personally wouldn’t bother getting it. I’m cutting it off when my contract is up in September. I’m not paying to watch ads, and they are getting more frequent, and the constant promotion of upcoming shows drives me mad. The cheap package is mainly repeats of old television shows, which I’ve seen. I’m getting rid of it.
I have had Foxtel for over 10 years. Over the past while I have become increasingly disappointed in the channels offered.
They are showing series that are old, and it is so disappointing to see that we are having to pay for it. Includingthe adverts that we went to cable to avoid them.
The repeats, add nauseum.
I have now just bought a set top box, and will hope that it provided a better service when the channels come on line.
Once I have done my research, I am hoping I will get away from the almost $80. a month charge which I do not consider is value for money.
Luckily I work, so I am not at home for the stuff they put forward during the day. The free to air here is so bad, then foxtel does not offer anything of interest that we havent seen. so off to bed and listen to the radio!
Never thought the radio would be a diversion from all those channels!
Anyway, when I go to the theatre, I go to Dendy theatre and pay the idiot tax to not have to put up with the idiots at the other cinemas. Some pics need to be seen on the big screen
simpsons, futurama, saturday and sunday night movies, ncis, o.c, law and order, criminal intent and house!!!
Taboo is a very intersting one
ANYTHING ON THE ADULT CHANNEL
no its not worth the money to many commercials and repeats and when it rains no reception
Pay TV in this country is laughable and literally a ripoff when you compare with other countries. I recently passed thru India having stopped in New Delhi for a day. I was given to understand that for the equivalent if 15 dollars there are 300 channels on view from all over the world. What we see for 75 bucks a month thru Fox is all repeat programmes. Perhaps by paying a little extra we can view the latest movies. But movies is not the only thing that people want the view. There are some that are not interested in movies but love to see sports, cooking etc etc. Foxtel is a bloody rip-off.
Foxtel is a waste of money. Re-runs, same old docos on discovery, of lions, wilderbeasts etc…Lifestyle channel is full of British dull renos, or American styled renos, not much Aussie ones on there. One show I did enjoy…..
Outrageous Fortune!!!
Sex and the city re runs, Stop running the last season, I’ve seen the episodes, each of them, twenty times already. Play the first years. Seasons one, two, three.
hey i am 14 and i have had foxtel since august 2006 and i love it there are shows i watch like ellen,law and order and all the other ones,jerry springer,simpsons,top chef,cops,david letterman,gossip girl and a lot more i could go on all day but we have now had it for nearly 4 years now and i reckon it is great when there is nothing on free to air tv so yeah i say get it
nah, i don’t think it is worth paying all that extra money, but it is up to the person, i guess, but dere are a lot of good shows on normal TV
The answer is yes! I just love it, especially with the IQ I can record what I want, including free to air channels and then watch them ad free whenever I want.We actually have three IQ boxes,we all get to record the programs we like, without any arguments! We have had Foxtel for 2 years and I have just discovered the How to channel. I really like the lifestyle channel and CI channel as well.And hubby gets to watch his sports without any complaints!
Discovery Channel
I am starting to wonder why I got Foxtel. With the amount of adverts and station promos that they are putting on, I might as well stay with the commercail stations. When Foxtel first started they were prommoting ad free, now they advertise more than the commercial stations.??
Save your money! Pay TV is just not worth it.
A subscriber
I love foxtell love showtime all of them, love CI station and History and Discovery,
My problem I have is that Foxtell have ads sometimes even more than on normal tv I do hate that .
good luck.
At first we were all very happy with our pay T.V. and then after a few months all we have now are repeats and ads. What the ! Nobody at the austar company seems to care what they shove infront of you as long as you pay your bill. Ring and complain and the person on the other end will say they are sorry but have nothing to do with programing scheduals.Finally they start showing something new for a few weeks ( outrageous fortunes ) and then poof its gone . Where was it this week guys its the only reason i keep pay T.V. Isn’t the idea of pay T.V. no ads so what happened there? Why any one would consider going digital is beyond me if you miss something it will be on again in a few hours and a few hours after that for weeks . Bottom line is while we continue to line the pockets of those in charge nothing will change but on saying that when asked by anyone considering signing up what its like i tell them the truth repeats,repeats, repeats and ads ,ads,ads,ads. Not good for business eh !
We’ve had Austar for almost eleven or twelve years now. When we originally got it, our area had only one television station plus ABC and SBS, so interesting viewing was scarce during the football season (noone in our household cares much for sport), which was the main incentive for pay TV.
We get the basic package plus the three other ones, no movie channels or sport channels, and we have the MyStar (which is a little dodgy, but he has his moments), and there’s generally something on, recorded or live.
I especially love 111 Hits: sure, it’s mainly reruns, but they’re of the good sitcoms and the like. The SciFi channel is also excellent: they’ve got the cheesy Scifi movies made by them as well as various other cheesy scifi movies. UKTV has all the good British shows (My Family, Doctor Who, Torchwood, etc.), and Come Dine With Me on Lifestyle Food should really be on the Comedy Channel.
Foxtel and Austar are almost identical, apart from equipment, name and some channels (Austar doesn’t have HD or BBC Knowledge). I assume you live in a Foxtel area, so I’d say get Cable and an IQ2 if you have a HD TV and if you can: the cable connections get the local free to air channels without the antenna, which is especially useful if your antenna is of low quality or your signal is bad.
It sounds like the main problem is that you live in a TV democracy, Take the remote and make it a dictatorship.
I use broadband internet so Foxtel isn’t worth it for me.
The “basic package” can only be described as next to useless, to get a decent product it is necessary to have quite a few extras which makes it very costly.
Dealing with them can be a nightmare, especially by telephone.
A very auspicious fact is that Foxtel is a not true subscription service but uses a now illegal marketing system called “block booking”. That is where in order to receive a good product you must purchase additional inferior products in order to receive the good product. With a true subscription system the purchaser or viewer only selects and pays for the actual channels they want.
“A fool and his money are soon parted.”
if you like the programs on tv you should pay for them