We’ve had a couple of readers ask how they can watch FX’s new X-Men-esque TV show Legion in Australia. It’s being broadcast on Foxtel — and Foxtel is cheaper than ever. But if you don’t want to sign up to Foxtel, this post is for you.
A Foxtel Play subscription to watch Legion requires the Pop package, which will set you back $15 per month. A proper Foxtel cable installation is, of course, much more expensive. If you want to legally acquire Legion to watch in Australia, without the annoying delay waiting for it to hit a streaming service or for the full season to be released on Blu-ray, Fox has you covered.
The word from Fox is that it’ll be releasing all its new TV shows in Australia online the day after they air on broadcast TV — whether that’s through pay TV like Foxtel (where Legion is showing) or free-to-air like Channel 10 (which has 24: Legacy). This is great! This is a huge strike in the fight against piracy — we’ve been asking for years for acceptably fast digital releases of TV shows, and this is exactly what we mean.
iTunes, Google Play, Bigpond Movies, Fetch TV, Dendy Direct and the Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation digital stores will all have Fox’s new release TV catalogue, and each will have the same $2.99 price per individual episode (for a standard-def download; HD may be more where it’s available).
You’ll also be able to buy season passes on services like iTunes that support it, with each new episode delivered to your smartphone or tablet or streaming box whenever it’s released. The Legion S1 season pass on iTunes is $19.99, for example, or $24.99 if you want HD. And, just like a Blu-ray or DVD box set, those are yours to own and stream or download to any device you want.
Pilot episodes of new Fox shows, too, will either be cheap or free depending on the service you’re looking on. On iTunes, for example, the Legion first episode is $0.99 (either in HD or SD). This Is Us is completely free for anyone to try the first 43-minute episode.
Legion isn’t the only show that Fox is doing this with. 24: Legacy will be up for download the day after each episode airs on Channel Ten, and the first season of Donald Glover’s popular Atlanta will hit download on March 1, too. Bravo, Fox.