Foxtel was launched in Australia in 1995 delivering pay-tv services via Telstra’s HFC Coaxial Cable. In 1998 they expanded their customer base when they were able to buy the Galaxy Pay-TV satellite customer database.
Despite this massive boost in customers after adding satellite customers, Foxtel’s traditional service may not be available in your areas. If you want to find out whether you can get Foxtel, you should do so using the service check via their website. This will tell you what services are available where you live. If you live in an apartment you may have further problems.
The purpose of this article is to share with you how to get Foxtel/Satellite TV if you live in an apartment
With the introduction of the NBN and Telstra doing a deal with NBN to transfer their HFC Coaxial Network to NBN, Foxtel announced in 2018 that they would transition customers from HFC to a satellite connection.
But, if you live in an apartment it may nt be as simple as rushing out and getting a satellite on your balcony. There are a couple of reasons for this:
- The satellite would have to be facing in the right direction to get the Foxtel signal.
- Many strata/owners corps have rules about what you can hang from your balcony – including satellite dishes.
If you can get a direct line of sight to where you would need to point your satellite and you absolutely want the Foxtel service you could make representations to your Owners Corporation committee. There may be an option to put a larger satellite on the roof and cable the building to connect apartments up. Of course, there would be a cost for this but there is no harm in asking. Chances are if you want Foxtel there are residents in other apartments who would be interested in getting Foxtel too.
If asking your owners corporation isn’t fruitful then you’ll have to look at different options. There is still an option to get access to Foxtel through their Internet TV service – Foxtel Now. You get access to their channels, movie catalogue and tv shows on demand. To be able to do this you need a broadband Internet connection. You can access this via a web browser on your computer, an app on your smartphone or through Apps on many available Smart TVs. I would suggest that you check out their website before signing up to a subscription – just to make sure that you do have a compatible device.
If Satellite TV is not an option, and you are not really interested in live television, you may want to look at some of the other streaming services that are available – Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime Video are the popular ones. Australia’s free to air channels also offer online streaming services as well as some on-demand streaming services Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime offer no-contract services for a small monthly fee.
As you have seen. it may be possible to get Foxtel via satellite in your apartment – either if your building has a satellite on the roof currently or the Strata agrees to invest in a satellite and cabling the building. If that is not an option, you can still get your Foxtel fix via the internet or you can look at other streaming services for your movies and TV.
