pay tv
Entertainment
MPAA Is Still Trying To Plug Your Analogue Hole
2:40AM Danny Allen | Still use component connections with your pay TV box? Listen up: The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has again asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to let studios disable analogue connections during certain on-demand movies. The FCC currently bans this, and here’s why that’s a good thing. More »
Entertainment
10:24AM Nick Broughall | Last month, Foxtel announced that they were launching 30 new channels on the back of the Optus D3 satellite. What they didn’t mention was price. Now they have, and if you were crossing your fingers that they were going to just give you those bonus channels for free, you’re going to be a bit disappointed. Although it’s not all bad… More »
You Didn’t Think Those New Foxtel Channels Would Be Free, Did You?
10:24AM Nick Broughall | Last month, Foxtel announced that they were launching 30 new channels on the back of the Optus D3 satellite. What they didn’t mention was price. Now they have, and if you were crossing your fingers that they were going to just give you those bonus channels for free, you’re going to be a bit disappointed. Although it’s not all bad… More »
Entertainment
Foxtel. Now It’s About Downloads
Entertainment
1:20PM Nick Broughall | Now that D3 is up and orbiting the earth, it must be time to begin speculating as to exactly what bonus content we’ll get on Foxtel later this year when they flick the switch. The Australian today reckons we’ll be seeing a lot more movies and sports. More »
Foxtel’s New Channels To Be Mostly Movies And Sports?
1:20PM Nick Broughall | Now that D3 is up and orbiting the earth, it must be time to begin speculating as to exactly what bonus content we’ll get on Foxtel later this year when they flick the switch. The Australian today reckons we’ll be seeing a lot more movies and sports. More »
Entertainment
11:30AM Nick Broughall | So when that Optus D3 Satellite goes up this month, Foxtel will get a chunk of the extra bandwidth to launch some new channels. How many channels you ask? 30 new channels, according to the Courier Mail. More »
Foxtel Launching 30 New Channels This Year
11:30AM Nick Broughall | So when that Optus D3 Satellite goes up this month, Foxtel will get a chunk of the extra bandwidth to launch some new channels. How many channels you ask? 30 new channels, according to the Courier Mail. More »
Entertainment
3:08PM Nick Broughall | Good news for Foxtel cable subscribers – One HD will be coming to your pay TV network on July 1. More »
Foxtel Cable Broadcasting One HD From July 1
3:08PM Nick Broughall | Good news for Foxtel cable subscribers – One HD will be coming to your pay TV network on July 1. More »
Entertainment
1:30PM Nick Broughall | We’ve all been there – you’ve set the DVR to record your favourite program via the EPG. The next day you sit down to watch it and about 5 minutes from the end, right at the moment of climax, the recording ends, because the networks couldn’t care less about you and run their programs over time. Well, now the Foxtel iQ2 (but not the iQ) will let you extend the recording time up to 20 minutes after each program. More »
Foxtel’s iQ2 Now Lets You Record Up To 20 Minutes After A Show’s Finished
1:30PM Nick Broughall | We’ve all been there – you’ve set the DVR to record your favourite program via the EPG. The next day you sit down to watch it and about 5 minutes from the end, right at the moment of climax, the recording ends, because the networks couldn’t care less about you and run their programs over time. Well, now the Foxtel iQ2 (but not the iQ) will let you extend the recording time up to 20 minutes after each program. More »
Entertainment
2:00PM Nick Broughall | Foxtel subscribers are going to find their bills adjusted slightly just before Christmas as the Pay TV operator is changing its pricing structure. For most people this will probably mean you’ll be paying a little bit more, for some people it will actually mean they get their Foxtel cheaper.
The basic package price will go up from $37.95 to $40, but the monthly subscription cost for iQ owners will come down from $14.95 to $10. A lot of plans will round up an extra five cents (like My Showtime, which goes from $15.95 to $16, yet My Sport goes down from $17.95 to $16.
On Demand Movies will also get a price drop, from $5.95 to $5.50 for standard movies and $6.95 to $6 for HD movies.
All in all, it probably won’t make too much of a difference to your bottom line each month, although the rounded figures will make it easier for most people to know what they’re spending.
[Foxtel via Lifehacker] More »
Foxtel Changing Their Pricing Structure From November 1
2:00PM Nick Broughall | Foxtel subscribers are going to find their bills adjusted slightly just before Christmas as the Pay TV operator is changing its pricing structure. For most people this will probably mean you’ll be paying a little bit more, for some people it will actually mean they get their Foxtel cheaper.
The basic package price will go up from $37.95 to $40, but the monthly subscription cost for iQ owners will come down from $14.95 to $10. A lot of plans will round up an extra five cents (like My Showtime, which goes from $15.95 to $16, yet My Sport goes down from $17.95 to $16.
On Demand Movies will also get a price drop, from $5.95 to $5.50 for standard movies and $6.95 to $6 for HD movies.
All in all, it probably won’t make too much of a difference to your bottom line each month, although the rounded figures will make it easier for most people to know what they’re spending.
[Foxtel via Lifehacker] More »
Gadgets
1:04PM Nick Broughall | Back when the latest iteration of Foxtel’s iQ launched, one of the most interesting aspects was that there was a 4th HD digital tuner inside, except it was just lying there like some kind of fairytale princess waiting to be woken up by a digital Prince Charming.
Well, the good news is that the digital prince will be rolling out to iQ2 boxes around the country starting next week to activate the sleeping 4th tuner. Once it’s been woken up, Princess Tuner Number 4 will allow you to record two channels at the same time as watching a third channel live (at the moment you can only record two and either watch one of them, or watch something already recorded to the HDD or watch one of the On Demand movies or shows).
All iQ2 subscribers should be getting the update rolled out by December 1, but you won’t be notified when it’s been upgraded. It’s also a staggered rollout, so you’ll just have to keep trying to record Futurama at the same time as The Daily Show and Star Trek Voyager to see if you’ve been updated yet.
[Foxtel] More »
Foxtel Activating That 4th Tuner In Your iQ2
1:04PM Nick Broughall | Back when the latest iteration of Foxtel’s iQ launched, one of the most interesting aspects was that there was a 4th HD digital tuner inside, except it was just lying there like some kind of fairytale princess waiting to be woken up by a digital Prince Charming.
Well, the good news is that the digital prince will be rolling out to iQ2 boxes around the country starting next week to activate the sleeping 4th tuner. Once it’s been woken up, Princess Tuner Number 4 will allow you to record two channels at the same time as watching a third channel live (at the moment you can only record two and either watch one of them, or watch something already recorded to the HDD or watch one of the On Demand movies or shows).
All iQ2 subscribers should be getting the update rolled out by December 1, but you won’t be notified when it’s been upgraded. It’s also a staggered rollout, so you’ll just have to keep trying to record Futurama at the same time as The Daily Show and Star Trek Voyager to see if you’ve been updated yet.
[Foxtel] More »
Home
1:44PM Nick Broughall | All you city-dwellers out there – spare a thought for your poor, unfortunate rural brethren. For while you dine on the feast of High Definition delights afforded to you from Foxtel HD and the free-to-air TV channels, they have to rely on Austar, which has decided to take the “slow and steady and maybe not at all” approach to HD.
According to Australian IT today, Austar CEO John Porter has stated that launching HD channels on Austar probably won’t happen any time soon, as they are struggling to find a financial model that will actually make them money from new subscribers.
Although – just to confuse us all – he then stated that they will probably still release a HD-capable PVR in the 3rd quarter of 2009, although they may not accompany the hardware with any HD programming.
More »
HD On Austar? Don’t Hold Your Breath
1:44PM Nick Broughall | All you city-dwellers out there – spare a thought for your poor, unfortunate rural brethren. For while you dine on the feast of High Definition delights afforded to you from Foxtel HD and the free-to-air TV channels, they have to rely on Austar, which has decided to take the “slow and steady and maybe not at all” approach to HD.
According to Australian IT today, Austar CEO John Porter has stated that launching HD channels on Austar probably won’t happen any time soon, as they are struggling to find a financial model that will actually make them money from new subscribers.
Although – just to confuse us all – he then stated that they will probably still release a HD-capable PVR in the 3rd quarter of 2009, although they may not accompany the hardware with any HD programming.
More » 
