Foxtel Now review – How does the streaming service stand?

Foxtel Now is the pay TV company’s cheaper alternative for watching premium content both live and on demand. Stream your favourite programs like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, AFL and NRL or even premiere movies like Elvis, John Wick: Chapter 4, and more.

Our Foxtel Now review details everything about the streaming service including cost, content, features, free trials and promotions.

What is Foxtel Now?

Foxtel Now offers a combination of both live and on demand shows and movies. This subscription service provides a content range similar to its predecessor, Foxtel Play, but now in a much simpler method. There’s no set top box or cable installation required to watch, all you need to do is sign up online.

Foxtel Now is a flexible way of accessing channels and content at home or on the go. The service can be used across devices such as Telstra TV, computers, phones, tablets, and even game consoles. 

Foxtel Now review – Pros and Cons

What can I watch on Foxtel Now?

Foxtel Now’s streamlined experience begins with only one entry pack, the Essentials bundle. Among the included 32 channels, users will be able to watch Fox Showcase (which is where you’ll find HBO’s acclaimed shows), FOX8, MTV, Arena, Lifestyle and more. The Essentials pack also provides access to basic channels including Fox Sports News, Sky News, CNN, Bloomberg Television, Foxtel Arts and many more.

If you are after something more, the Drama Extra pack adds BBC First, UKTV, Fox One, Universal Channel, Fox Crime, Fox SciFi and Fox Sleuth. In addition, the Movies pack will give you around the clock entertainment with eleven themed channels. The Foxtel Now Sports pack opens up access to the acclaimed live coverage of the multi channel Fox Sports network along with partner networks beIN and ESPN. 

For kids and documentary channels however, users must subscribe to the All Packs bundle. Compiling every piece of content, the All Packs bundle is Foxtel’s platinum monthly subscription which is best reserved for families or large households.

HBO series, local TV shows and more

Foxtel has an exclusive deal with HBO that allows them to stream HBO content directly, often just hours after it airs in the USA. Through the Showcase channel subscribers can stream Our Flag Means Death, American Horror Story, all as they premiere live.

As well as HBO exclusives, Foxtel Now delivers locally-produced shows and movies that include the award-winning prison-drama Wentworth, Colin from Accounts, Love Me, The Twelve, and the newly released Strife.

Sport on Foxtel Now

With the Sports Pack, meanwhile, you can stream over 50 different sports from around the globe, including coverage of AFL, NRL, NBA, NFL, as well as international tennis and golf, Australian and European football, Supercars, MotoGP, Formula 1, the best of international and live Australian cricket and much more – even the famed Mosconi Cup, the world championships of 9-ball Pool, has its home on Foxtel Now!

Movies on Foxtel Now

Of course, the Movies pack gets you live and on-demand access to Foxtel’s unbeatable range of movie channels. This lets you pick a genre and dive right in – romance, thrillers, action, comedy, classics and more, as well as all the latest films on the Premiere channel.

How much does Foxtel Now cost?

The Foxtel Now subscription is all about flexibility which means no lock-in contracts. Like any streaming service, the pricing is based on which Foxtel Now packages you’ll be getting. The base level Essentials plan costs $25 per month and includes both the Pop and Lifestyle packs. From there, you can add up to three additional packs: Drama Extra for $10 per month, Sports for $29 per month and Movies for $20 per month.

Otherwise you can pick up the Kids + Docos package for a total of $104 per month with the All Packs plan. Remember that Foxtel Now has a free 10-day trial, plus special offers that’ll help you save in the long run.

Alongside the live channels, you have full access to traditional Foxtel on demand content, which adds thousands of TV shows and movies to stream in high definition any time.

Last audited 1st of February 2024

Can you get Foxtel Now from Telstra?

If you happen to have an active Telstra subscription, you can add Foxtel Now to your account which paying your bills even more convenient. Getting Foxtel Now from Telstra delivers the exact same thing as Foxtel Now from Foxtel does.

Foxtel Now features

There are several ways to watch Foxtel Now which include the super-smooth web platform accessible from your browser, working best with Google Chrome, or Safari on Mac. Your watch history is bookmarked for later, carrying over any content watched on the app.

There is a useful watch list built in with support on all platforms. With an easy-to-browse live channel section, the Foxtel Now website is a great way to watch your shows without needing the app.

An even more enticing option is the Telstra TV 3 box, available on selected Telstra Broadband plans (or purchasable outright) and offering the very latest in streaming tech including universal voice search across multiple services, letting you find content everywhere from Foxtel Now to Netflix to the premium content on Telstra TV Box Office.

The Foxtel Now app on Telstra TV was designed from the ground up to deliver a seamless user experience very much like the interface on Foxtel’s iQ boxes.

Foxtel Now vs Netflix and Stan

With so many streaming options around these days looking for your subscription, how does Foxtel Now compare to the more traditional services such as Stan and Netflix? Well, for starters, Foxtel Now isn’t just an on-demand streaming service – it is mainly focussed on streaming live channels. That means you can tune in to your chosen pack’s channels in high definition, just as you would on a Foxtel iQ box. Live channels are still important to a huge number of people, and Foxtel Now delivers them.

The platform’s user interface is worth mentioning as well. Far too often does a TV giant focus their efforts into streaming without really focussing any effort. Clunky, slow, outdated apps are not what Foxtel Now is about. The UX is easily broken down over four tabs – Home, Live TV, On Demand and Kids. Each screen cross references the other with sections like ‘On Now’ to direct you to live TV or playlists like ‘Best of HBO’.

The Foxtel Now interface hits a home run with their Live TV section as it breaks down content into categories and offers channel surfing without having to exit your livestream. Where the service is looking to improve comes in the form of more minor issues like a lack of user profiles and the occasional unskippable ad – which has no place on a premium paid service.

How to watch Foxtel Now

For those of us who like to stream on our phones and tablets, the iOS and Android Foxtel Now apps have been retired in favour of the Foxtel Go app, which is used by Foxtel Now subscribers as well as satellite/cable customers. Foxtel Go has been greatly enhanced, and is a fast and reliable way to stream live channels or watch on demand.

The apps now include casting support, too, so you can send video from the device in your hand direct to your TV if you have a device with Chromecast functionality (as most Android based TVs do), a Google Chromecast device or an Apple TV.

As well as this, owners of the Playstation 4 game console can download the latest Foxtel Now app for that popular device and start streaming right from the Playstation’s TV menu.

More recently, a new Foxtel app has been added to recent LG and Samsung smart TVs, letting you stream Foxtel Now without needing any extra devices at all.

Foxtel Now is currently available on the following devices, with more to come:

How to contact Foxtel Now

If you need to get in touch with Foxtel Now customer service – whether it’s to ask about channel packs or to troubleshoot any streaming issues – just call 1300 130 799 from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.

For pack changes, call between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week. And if you’ve got any questions about your account or billing, call any time between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.

Foxtel Now review verdict

Thanks to slick new apps, HD streaming and on demand content, as well as full support of devices like Google Chromecast, Telstra TV and the Foxtel Now box itself, Foxtel Now lets you get the best of both on-demand and live TV worlds online.

It comes at a low price per month which you can cancel anytime since there are no lock-in contract or install costs to worry about. The massive content library gives competitors like Amazon Prime, Netflix and Stan a worthy opponent.

So, check out Foxtel Now for yourself and discover how easy it is to take premium TV with you wherever you go!

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