Is Foxtel worth it?

[ffc1883_1996]

I’ve always resisted the temptation on the grounds that the $50 per month would be best spent reducing the principal on my home loan.

Delayed gratification has got me this far but it’s tough for a Melbourne based Lions supporter to go without pay TV.

Your thoughts?

 

[wylie]

We have Optus, which is Foxtel rebranded, same stations, but a little cheaper.

I don't watch sport, but with five of us in the house, we would really miss it if we didn't have it.

We also got the IQ box because none of us could figure out how to tape anything on our DVD player. The Optus IQ box is fantastic. We can tape 100 hours (I think) and series link the shows we want taped regularly. No more forgetting to set the DVD player.

We spend more than $50 because we have movies (which hubby loves) but one of the reasons we originally got it was the kids were wanting to hire DVDs all the time, and it was cost effective. Now, we only ever hire DVDs on school holidays and do it on $1 Tuesday.

Now, we couldn't live without it. (Well, obviously we could live without it, but it would be hard.)

 

[BayView]

Have never had cable in Aus - only since being here in the USA, and it is STUFFED with cr@p ads every minute.

It's a total rip-off, but of course; you can't get a free-to-air signal, so they've got you screwed - it'll happen in Aus eventually folks.

My question is; does Foxtel or Optus come ad-free?

If not, then free-to-air is all I'll be watching; why should we pay to watch ads for 50% of the air time?

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

I had Foxtel once, by accident (moved into a share house where they had it). I thought it was funny that people pay for t.v. and it has ad's on there. I don't mean like ad's at the end of the program (ala ABC or SBS) I mean ad's cutting into the program itself, like on free t.v.

It's funny because I thought the idea of pay t.v. was to avoid this, but I guess people are happy to pay the money for the same experience they can get for free.

Mark

P.S. I don't really watch a lot of telly, I spend most of my time on the 'net. I would say that more than 50% of the 'television' I watch these days I d/l. It's free (sort of) - and ad free! I stayed at a friends house for a few weeks earlier this year and she has Foxtel. Personally, I can't see the reason to pay the money for it. A whole lot of channels full of crap. Seriously there was hardly anything worth watching on there. The reality show about the Playboy Mansion was good though. But I only watched that for the articles.

 

[BlackSpider]

It's worth it to me.

We're with optus and have the basic package + sports.


I love watching MMA, UFC, Strike Force, it's the best !!!
Also watch some poker and other sports and some Channel V, and the Australian business channel 602, Nina May is a nice presenter.

I can think of a lot more useless ways to spend $50/month.

 

[Chris.R_WA]

I "saved" money by recently getting Foxtel (thats how I justified it anyway )

When my Western Force membership came up for renewal it was going to be $360 each for my partner and I. Those weren't the best seats, just average, and there is only 6 home games this year.

So I reluctantly passed on the renewal, and took my newly saved $720, and got foxtel for 12 months instead. Free installation, and $55 month including all Sports. So $720-$660 = SAVINGS!

Plus, now I get to watch ALL the Super 14, ALL the NRL, and every test match! Happy days, and much better value for money than trying to watch rugby at Subiaco

The Force never win at home anyway...

Cheers, Chris

ps. There's heaps of good property shows on Lifestyle channels as well that I tape.

 

[wylie]

It's funny because I thought the idea of pay t.v. was to avoid this, but I guess people are happy to pay the money for the same experience they can get for free.

It is NOT the same experience we can get for free. So many programmes to chose from. History channel is one of my favourites, Lifestyle channel another. Plenty of crap as well, but I couldn't stand only having five channels to chose from, after having so much choice.

Anyway, horses for courses.

I must say that we we got it, it was pretty much an advertising free zone. There were mini adverts, usually at the end of a show, previewing other shows.

As the years have gone by, however, there are more and more "product" advertisements, which really peeves me.

Much as it is annoying, we tend not to watch a show while it is on. We tape most things and watch them at our leisure and simply x30 the adverts.

I have written to them complaining that one of the reasons we got Optus was so we didn't have to watch adverts, but got no reply.

I have to say though, that the adverts are nothing like on free to air tv. We get maybe two "product" adverts, and a couple of adverts for other shows. Free to air adverts can run to eight or nine in a row. Couldn't stand that. In fact, I hardly watch any free to air tv now we have Optus.

 

[Dave Hooper]

I love my Foxtel. We have the Platinum package.

Love all the house renovation type shows, anything to do with property (of course).

And love the ability to watch the Pies live whenever their games aren't free to air.

 

[Perp]

I'm with wylie; we have Foxtel IQ and I love it. I don't think there's a single thing I regularly watch on free-to-air anymore. I record heaps of property shows - "Property Ladder", "How to Be a Property Developer", "Property Developing Abroad", "Colin and Justin's Home Heist" - so it's a tax deduction Because I record them and don't watch live, like Wylie I go x30 through the ads and it doesn't bother me really - have to go to the toilet sometime!

Hubby and I talked a lot last year - during our challenging development - about cutting costs, but we didn't seriously consider cancelling Foxtel. Firstly, when you're $100K in the hole, that $1,500 per year (we have three Foxtel IQ boxes though there are 8 people in our household) really isn't going to make a dent. Even if it had made a dent, there are lots of other things I'd give up first, like my third daily meal

 

[ffc1883_1996]

so it's a tax deduction

so it's a tax deduction

Seriously?

 

[wylie]

Hey Tracey. I just called this week to see how much extra to have a second IQ box downstairs. It is $200 installation plus $21 per month, which would be great and save a few arguments about who wants to watch what.

Is this $21 per month what you are paying?

Of course, we can split the viewing ourselves as long as we want to watch the same thing upstairs and downstairs (which is not our problem - we want to watch different things).

However, I was told that Optus is not getting any more IQ boxes. We would have to go to a "regular" box, which I am not sure I want.

Please, please let me know if you decide to get rid of one of your IQ boxes, because I would take it off your hands

If anybody knows somebody with an IQ box which they plan to discontinue, I would appreciate a PM. Don't know how we could do it, but I would give it a good try.

 

[Perp]

Hi Wylie, we're with Foxtel and just got our third IQ box last month. Must be an Optus issue... perhaps they've stopped stocking them in anticipation of IQ2 which is coming out later this year (I think). It will offer a high-definition service (though you'll also have to pay to subscribe to the high-definition feed to take advantage of it), and - more importantly to me - a larger storage capacity.

I may be wrong, but I don't think you can just plug in an IQ box from somewhere else - they have to be "activated" and are linked to your phone number, so I don't think what you're proposing will work, sorry.

 

[wylie]

Thanks Tracey. I was just thinking that if someone already with Optus decided they no longer wanted the IQ box, I would see if I could arrange for Optus to pick it up and bring it to me

I wasn't planning on doing it myself . I couldn't even use our DVD player, let alone try to configure an IQ box

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Had cable in the US and got over it quickly.
If you work 30+ hours a week, who wants to sit down and watch 'stuff' passively.....

I find the internet much more interesting..........am giving property a break this year and focusing on share trading.......

nothing on foxtel to match what I can find in books and internet re that...


let's face it....tele is passive in general......if you are making heaps 9-5 or set up for life, I can get why foxtel might appeal.........meanwhile, I am trying to dig my way out of a hole from taking too much risk when younger......

If any of you foxtel gurus can teach me about when to apply the Chi Square stats or ANOVA test to an investment decision, I am all ears.....

Meanwhile, it is back to revisting uni stats for this little black duck......

 

[wylie]

If any of you foxtel gurus can teach me about when to apply the Chi Square stats or ANOVA test to an investment decision, I am all ears.....

I think you can put the Chi Square in the eastern corner with some fresh flowers, as long as your feet aren't pointing at a window and the Anova Test can be fixed by hanging some crystals above the Chi Square....

 

[Novar]

We've had austar (foxtel) for 6/7 years. I could never understand paying for TV once either but we like the choice and variety now.

I like having news on the hour every hour, especially when something major is happening. I flick through Sky,CNN,BBC. Any press conferences you see in entirety instead of a 5 sec version at 6pm. The new business chanell is ok. Lifestyle and History we watch a lot. My young adult son watches animal planet, he's into crocs and all things with big teeth or claws! The Criminal Investigation network can be interesting but gets a bit much if you watch it too much.

I get sick to death of the ad's but agree they are not as bad as free to air.
They repeat a lot of shows every 3 mths or so....and repackage them on a different chanel with a different name.

I have 2 boxes and think it's far better value. We used to pay $80-ish for 1 box and now pay $100-ish. Averaged out at $50 it seems a better deal to me.

 

[units4me]

We've had Optusvision since 1995 and most of what we watch is really the channel 7, 9 + 10 etc free to air.

But i do like the discovery channel for Megastructures, dirty jobs type shows and also the pommy renovation shows. The family has their various favorite channels also.


Waste of money, but can't bring myself to disconnect it.

 

[ianvestor]

I'm with you Mark, I download pretty much all my 'TV'. I just can't stand the ads on regular TV. I tried getting one of those 'NO JUNK MAIL' signs from the hardware store and sticking it to the antenna but it didn't have any effect.

 

[RPI]

I have foxtel in my business for clients. Basically 60 channels of crap instead of 6 channels of crap.

 

[Nards]

I have to admit I just "don't get" the whole Foxtel thing...unless you are a sport fanatic (which I'm not..). I seem to find enough vaguely entertaining things to watch on free-to-air, to fill the time I have to watch TV. The good thing is when there is nothing worth watching on I just turn the box off and read a book or find something else to do (SS!!.) To me having so much choice, is just going to encourage more time sitting in front of the tellie - its hard enough trying to get the kids off thier backsides, and outside to play!
That, and I can think of much better ways to spend $50 or whatever a month...

I must admit that when on holiday and staying in a hotel with Fox I do enjoy it, esp the Lifestyle/Nat Geo channel etc, but then I'm on holidays, and have the time to waste on TV!

Just my opinion, I know plenty who wouldn't give up their Fox...

Nadia