Environment Pay TV

[Mr Budda Bing]

Whose's got cable TV here? I recently got it and got the Sports IQ. I'm really focusing on DT and SC this year and want to watch all the games etc, got a few leagues running at the Office which have great prizes. Foxtel is decent, many repeats but I love it for the Sport. I read on BF aswell that people get cheap deals because you threaten to leave,
clever.

UKTV is good, so is 111 Hits and TV1 with Friends, Rules of Engagment, The Office etc. Sentata Sports is a rip, hate soccer so don't use it. Mates first thing they asked when I told them I got Foxtel, did you get Adult Only Channel's ? Nope, didn't want extra cost where you can get it free on the Net. Anyone got it here? hahah. I like Foxtel and I don't know what I would do without it honestly, when I'm not following my Tigers or posting on BF, I'm watching TV and playing sports. The footy shows are so much better on Fox than Free to Air aswell Movies is a waste of money aswell, too many repeats for my liking and I just get mates to give me the DVD if I want to watch a film anyway.

The Soccer coverage last night was good aswell

 

[dogbloke]

Whose's got cable TV here? I recently got it and got the Sports IQ. I'm really focusing on DT and SC this year and want to watch all the games etc, got a few leagues running at the Office which have great prizes. Foxtel is decent, many repeats but I love it for the Sport. I read on BF aswell that people get cheap deals because you threaten to leave,
clever.

UKTV is good, so is 111 Hits and TV1 with Friends, Rules of Engagment, The Office etc. Sentata Sports is a rip, hate soccer so don't use it. Mates first thing they asked when I told them I got Foxtel, did you get Adult Only Channel's ? Nope, didn't want extra cost where you can get it free on the Net. Anyone got it here? hahah. I like Foxtel and I don't know what I would do without it honestly, when I'm not following my Tigers or posting on BF, I'm watching TV and playing sports. The footy shows are so much better on Fox than Free to Air aswell Movies is a waste of money aswell, too many repeats for my liking and I just get mates to give me the DVD if I want to watch a film anyway.

The Soccer coverage last night was good aswell

Are your friends 12?

Also you claim to hate soccer but yet you watched it last night?

 

[Mr Budda Bing]

Are your friends 12?

Also you claim to hate soccer but yet you watched it last night?

Nah, they act like w***ers all the time hahah

Yeah, I hate soccer but there was nothing better to watch last night and I didn't IQ anything, so I watched it. The coverage shits over FTA.

 

[THRILLHO]

I have IQ, basic and sports. It's a waste of time during summer, absolutely nothing on. The only sport I've really watched has been the Big Bash and the MLB World Series.

The best thing about it is live pause. I use that all the time. Without sports Foxtel is basically glorified Freeview.

 

[dogbloke]

Nah, they act like w***ers all the time hahah

Yeah, I hate soccer but there was nothing better to watch last night and I didn't IQ anything, so I watched it. The coverage shits over FTA.

Thats beacause there is pretty much no coverage of it on FTA (besides a crappy german league.)

But my question is how do you know about the coverage of soccer on FTA? if you say you hate it? or do you just watch stuff you hate when you're bored?

 

[Biggy_Boy]

I wish you could fully customise your subscription for what you actually want and not have to pay for channels you never watch.

I pretty much only use it for AFL now and am considering leaving. Most of the stuff I watch I can get on the net long before it ever hits Pay TV screens. In fact, some TV shows even fall behind FTA on the Pay TV networks.

 

[Mr Budda Bing]

Thats beacause there is pretty much no coverage of it on FTA (besides a crappy german league.)

But my question is how do you know about the coverage of soccer on FTA? if you say you hate it? or do you just watch stuff you hate when you're bored?

I travel alot and I watch soccer with I'm with mates especially in Euro.

I watched WC 06 with mates.

I don't watch soccer unless mates are watching it.

 

[Damon_3388]

I've had Foxtel at home for 7 years, and there's so much unwatchable trash on there these days. At least 85% of it is stuff I have absolutely no interest in, not even "for a stupid laugh" or to fill a few minutes here and there.

And even if you do want to fill a few minutes with something, good luck getting through all the ads. Seems to be more advertising (particularly during shows) on Foxtel than on FTA television. My Mum turned on an hour-long show right in the middle the other day (so it wasn't ending and they were doing a lot of ads between shows), and in watching it for 15 minutes, she saw about 2 minutes of the actual show, with the rest being ads. Ridiculous! I thought part of the reason you pay suscription fees is to reduce the need for the networks to show ads (as they're receiving the revenue directly from the customers). Is it that expensive to show content these days that they need the ad revenue, or are they just being greedy?

I wish you could fully customise your subscription for what you actually want and not have to pay for channels you never watch.

If you could pay a set fee, say $3.95 per channel, and have whichever channels you like, I could probably live with the ad situation. As it is, you're just paying so much for too little quality content. Strongly considering getting rid of it, even though it's great for sport.

 

[Deledinho]

Don't have it, never will.

 

[Changaneen]

Have the country version. Austar HD. Wouldnt be without it. Im an outdoors person, love my fishing and camping, but im a shift worker, so i love my tele when im at home.

The sports is great. Could do without the movie channels but its a compromise with the Mrs and kids.

 

[twarby]

HD Platinum
mainly used for sports

its true you can haggle your way down to a very cheap package/free 2nd room etc if you threaten to leave.
you basically call up saying you cant afford too and they schedule a cancellation date..
you will get a call from someone from foxtel saying they can give you a new deal at cheaper cost.

 

[360noscope]

Get a PS3 instead.

 

[standingroomonly]

Have Platinum IQ but i'm thinking i'll downgrade to Sports IQ. I just don't watch all the other channels.

I download all the US/UK TV shows that i watch which means i can be watching them with no ads streamed right to my tv in my lounge room 15 mins after they air on the east coast of the US.

I wouldn't cancel altogether though, i tried watching sport via streams on the net and i think the price of foxtel is worth not having to worry about getting a stream or watching a crap one.

 

[360noscope]

Yeah I download most TV shows too.

Foxtel is very good for English soccer I have found. No other easy way to watch it. Also I guess the AFL is good too...

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I've recently sold my home and for the first time in probably 12 or 13 years, I don't have Foxtel/Austar. At this time of the year I'm not missing it at all.

I had platinum HD and as far as footy goes it was awesome, apart from that I didn't watch much apart from the news, weather channel, music max and MTV classic. All the rest of the crap was for my wife and kids.

I've already noticed how much more the kids are outside playing, using their imaginations.

 

[GreyBudgie]

HD Platinum
mainly used for sports

its true you can haggle your way down to a very cheap package/free 2nd room etc if you threaten to leave.
you basically call up saying you cant afford too and they schedule a cancellation date..
you will get a call from someone from foxtel saying they can give you a new deal at cheaper cost.

Any regional Austar customers tried this?
It would be good to get a cheaper rate, I also get peeved with the increasing adds (One of the reasons) I got pay TV way back in 1996.

 

[skilts]

Any regional Austar customers tried this?
It would be good to get a cheaper rate, I also get peeved with the increasing adds (One of the reasons) I got pay TV way back in 1996.

Tried what you suggested with Austar a couple of months ago. Basically, they said, "If you don't like it **** off", followed closely by, "So you want to cancel your subscription?" It was almost as if they were trying to get people to cancel, so they could stick it up them with a higher rate when (if) they resigned.

Strange attitude in a way, because I've heard they're losing money hand over fist. Maybe they think they have a captive audience, but the same would apply to the monopoly run by Foxtel surely? Anyway, if anyone has had any success in beating Austar down, I'd be interested in knowing how.

Edit: On rereading the post about Foxtel, it may be that you have to threaten to cancel to get to the next stage where you can haggle. Dunno.

 

[raskolnikov]

Have it but about to cancel it. I don't get time to watch it these days and if I do there seems to be hardly anything on worth watching anyway. The only thing I'll miss is the sports, and a couple of shows not on FTA like American Idol but it's not worth the price for a couple of shows.

 

[THRILLHO]

Whirlpool have two Foxtel bargaining threads. part two and part one


I rang them up on Friday, told them it's too expensive and since I'm going back to uni I cant afford it. The guy said disconnections will ring me in 48 hours. So now we play the waiting game.

 

[Andre]

I've got it. And looks like the exception of not getting it for sports. Lifestyle channels, doco's, sci-fi channel plus movies is why I have it. Combined with torrents for older shows I feel like watching again and barely watch FTA anymore.

 

[kaysee]

Get a PS3 instead.

^^ this or an XBOX or PC.

Prefer gaming over TV.

Mainly use the TV for News, Sports and the odd show here and there. Other than that I just watch movies I rent/buy (or stream via Zune on the XBOX).

 

[Smoooothy]

Have the country version. Austar HD. Wouldnt be without it. Im an outdoors person, love my fishing and camping, but im a shift worker, so i love my tele when im at home.

The sports is great. Could do without the movie channels but its a compromise with the Mrs and kids.

i have this too

also, Austar is getting ESPN2 in the next month or two, whereas Foxtel isn't

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

When people have Foxtel/Austar disconnected in most cases they'll leave the dish on the roof.

If you have one on your roof and you know someone with the service, get them to have another box installed in their house. Once it's in take the box to your place hook it up and away you go. Split the costs.

I've heard of people that do this. They'll get 4 or more boxes installed in their house then split them up with family and friends. The cost for the full package then is only $20 to $40 each per month depending on how many are involved.

If you haven't got a dish on your roof I guess another alternative is have it connected so that you get the dish and then have it disconnected as soon as you're able.

Not sure how you'd get around it with IQ and IQ2. If you were planning on having it long term then it may be worth it if you split the installation costs at the prime property.

 

[stmookeyj]

I don't have it but the Old Man does. Unfortunately with 4 younger kids that like Disney Channel/Nickelodeon the only chance to watch anything decent is when the footy is on or they're out running around in the yard or at the beach. And sometimes you have to change the channel to get the latest Sky News (old man checks Business tab often) and Weather Channel.