We live in the era of peak television. There's so much new content coming out every month that it can be hard to keep up with. If only you could manage free-to-air television, streaming and your favourite pay TV channels in one place?
That's where Fetch comes in. Foxtel's long-standing rival, Fetch is an alternative that you can also bundle with a plan from an internet provider. Fetch has range of TV channel packages as well as access to most of the popular streaming apps.
What is Fetch TV?
Fetch is an entertainment platform consisting of two parts. There's the set-top box and the digital programming you can use on the go.
Your Fetch TV set-top box connects to your TV to provide access to free-to-air programming, streaming services, and over 50 channels (depending on your channel pack). You can pause and rewind live TV and with the Fetch Might box you can also record up to 585 hours of content to watch when you like. That's roughly 24 days of recorded television.
Fetch also offers a Movie Store and TV Store where you can rent or buy additional programming that's not included with the service. Finally, there's Fetch's Mobi app. With Mobi, you can access select channels via your Apple or Android smartphone or tablet.
Fetch is available to purchase from the following major retailers:
- The Good Guys
- Bing Lee
- Harvey Norman
- JB HI-FI
You can also bundle Fetch with any Telstra plan. It won't save you any money on Fetch, but you can use Telstra points to purchase the hardware and digital content on the Fetch store.
Fetch TV box options
To get Fetch TV, you require the all-important set-top box. However, you do have a choice between two different options. To get full functionality (PVR recording and 1TB storage) you'll need to get the Fetch TV Mighty. Then there's the cheaper Fetch TV Mini, which offers 4K streaming but no internal storage for recording live television.
Both the Fetch Mini and Mighty can pause and rewind live TV, access your streaming services and free-to-air TV but you'll need the Mighty if you want to record.
To make sure you get the right Fetch TV box, have a quick read of our comparison between the Mighty and the Mini models here:
Fetch TV Mini vs. Fetch TV Mighty
| Fetch TV Mini (New G5) | Fetch TV Mighty | |
|---|---|---|
| Channel packs available from $6/mth | ||
| Streaming apps | ||
| Buy and rent movies | ||
| 4K content | ||
| Pause and rewind live TV | ||
| Record TV | ||
| Simultaneous recording | ||
| Remote recording | ||
| Parental controls | ||
| Memory | N/A | 1TB |
| Cost (Outright) | $159 | $599 |
Fetch TV bundles
Entertainment and the internet go together like a fine red paired with aged cheese. For the longest time, multiple internet providers offered their own Fetch bundle, but Telstra became the sole provider of Fetch bundles when it became the majority stakeholder in 2022.
Telstra + Fetch TV
As of 2022 Telstra is the majority owner of Fetch, so it comes as no surprise that you can get Fetch TV through the telco.
When you get Fetch TV through Telstra you'll have the option to pay for the hardware outright, or over 12 or 24 months. As a bonus, you can earn Telstra Plus points on your Fetch purchases and use them to rent and buy content on the platform. You don't need to be signed up for a Telstra internet plan to get Fetch TV through the telco, but it is handy if you want everything on one bill.
Here are Telstra's NBN plans:
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#1
|
Telstra
All Fixed Line nbn®
Basic Internet Only Plan
$89/mth
Min. cost $44.50
Link not supplied
|
|
#2
|
Telstra
All Fixed Line nbn®
Upfront Internet Plan Basic
$97/mth
Min. cost $48.50
Link not supplied
|
Where to buy Fetch TV outright
Fetch Mini and Mighty boxes can also be bought through tech retailers. If you'd prefer to buy the hardware outright, Fetch TV boxes are available from The Good Guys, Bing Lee, JB HI-FI and Harvey Norman.
Fetch TV channels
Out of the box, Fetch TV is a fairly straightforward experience. You get over 30 free-to-air channels (SBS On Demand, 7Plus, etc.), over 25 additional channels (Hell's Kitchen, Mythbusters, Bondi Vet, Stargate, Intravel and more). You also get games, access to the movie and TV store, and access to the Fetch Mobi app.
If you want to pay the base-line Fetch Access fee of $3.99 per month, you'll also get access to Fetch Movie Box, a rotating selection of on-demand movies (valued at $2.99 per month) and 1 monthly movie rental credit (valued at $7.99 per month). That's a saving of $6.99 per month, assuming you take advantage of Movie Box and the monthly rental credit.
There are four Premium Channel Packs, alongside special interest sort channels like beIN Sports and UFC, and several foreign language packs are available as extra add-ons.
| Pack | Price | Channels |
|---|---|---|
| Variety | $7.99/mth | Investigation Discovery, CMT, Oxygen True Crime, Discovery
Turbo, MTV 80s, Universal TV, BBC UKTV, BBC Drama, TLC and Stingray CMusic |
| Knowledge | $7.99/mth | Discovery Channel, BBC Brit, Travel Channel, Animal
Planet, Food Network, BBC Earth, HGTV, CNBC, CNN, France
24, BBC News, Bloomberg Television, Channel NewsAsia, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, euronews, Times Now, Curiosity and Love Nature |
| Vibe | $7.99/mth | ESPN, ESPN2, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV Hits, Fashion TV, Club MTV, MTV 00s and MTV 90s and MyZen TV |
| Kids | $7.99/mth | Baby TV, Nickelodeon, Nick Junior, NickMusic and Zoo Moo |
| Movie Box | $2.99/mth (included with Fetch Access) | Rotating list of 30 pre-selected films. One movie added and one removed daily. |
| Ultimate | $24.99/mth | All the channels within the Variety, Knowledge, Vibe and Kids packs |
There are also special interest channels you can purchase from Fetch TV directly including if you so desire the Horse and Country channel. It's a channel for people "interested in horses, equestrian sports, and country living" available for $9.99. Horse girls that one's for you.
Streaming apps on Fetch TV
In addition to channel packs, you can log in to your existing streaming apps via Fetch TV. Apps available on Fetch TV including Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Stan, Britbox, Hayu, and more.
Fetch TV vs. Foxtel
Foxtel has been the big player for pay TV in Australia since its launch way back in 1995. But with so much more content these days thanks to streaming apps these days competitors like Fetch TV have popped up.
Fetch TV: best suited to households on a budget
Fetch TV has a smaller content library and by virtue of this is a much cheaper investment than Foxtel. The recently introduced Fetch Access fee ($3.99 per month) gets you a rotating list of 30 movies on-demand plus one movie rental per month and all the other bells and whistles that come with a Fetch box, like free-to-air, streaming channels and more.
Each of its channel packs can be added for $7.99 per month. These can be mixed and matched, or purchased together at a discounted price of $24.99 per month, giving you more flexibility than Foxtel. In addition to the channels within Fetch you can also access most of the streaming apps you're already signed up to including more obscure ones like Britbox and Hayu.
Foxtel: best suited to households with demand for more content
On the other hand, Foxtel is more expensive and less flexible. On a month-to-month arrangement, the basic Foxtel Plus pack costs around $78 per month not including the cost of the iQ set-top box (an additonal $230+ at the time of updating this guide).
While each package does include a wide selection of channels, they all cost a fair amount of money. There's an all-inclusive premium pack for $150 per month ($99/mth if you sign up for 12 months) that includes everything Foxtel has to offer.
Foxtel's iQ5 set-top boxes also support streaming services, but a smaller amount than Fetch. It doesn't support Crunchyroll, Hayu, Britbox, Plex or even DAZN, which is confusing because DAZN owns Foxtel.
Check out Foxtel's plans here:
| Inclusions | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Foxtel  |
LIMITED OFFER - 40% OFF
| View PlanDeal ends June 30. |
| Foxtel |
| |
| Foxtel |
| |
| Foxtel |
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| Foxtel |
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Fetch TV alternatives
If you’re not completely sold on the idea of Fetch TV, there are other options to choose from that don’t include crawling back to Foxtel. You could purchase a streaming device and connect all your subscription and free-to-air TV apps through that. Although it has the convenience of an all-in-one media manager, they don't include pay TV channels.
Binge should also be considered as an alternative even though it does not come with its own set-top box or streaming hub. Offering similar entertainment choices to Foxtel alongside its sister app Kayo Sports, Binge is another way to avoid paying expensive pay TV prices while still getting access to over 10,000 hours of TV and movies.
|
AMC+ Bundle
TV7-day free trial
From
$8.99/mth
or $83.88/yr
|
|
Disney+
From
$9.99/mth
or $179.99/yr
|
|
Amazon Prime Video
TV + movies + more30-day free trial
From
$9.99/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Netflix
From
$9.99/mth
|
|
Binge
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$10.00/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Crunchyroll
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99/yr
|
|
Apple TV
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$15.99/mth
or $129/yr
|
|
Kayo Sports
Sport7-day free trial
From
$29.99/mth
|
|
DAZN
From
$31.99/mth
or $149.99/yr
|
|
Foxtel Now
TV + movies + sport10-day free trial
From
$35/mth
|
|
Paramount+
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$7.99/mth
or $70.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
Stan.
TV + movies + sport
From
$9.99/mth
Link not supplied
|
|
HBO Max
TV + movies
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99yr
Link not supplied
|
|
BritBox
TV7-day free trial
From
$13.99/mth
or $139.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
MUBI
Movies7-day free trial
From
$14.99/mth
or $119.88/yr
Link not supplied
|
How much data does Fetch TV use?
Fetch TV requires a constant internet connection to access online television services. Thankfully most internet plans have unlimited data these days. You can expect Fetch TV to use around 1GB of data per hour for standard definition, and as much as 3GB of data per hour for HD streaming. If you have a Fetch TV Mighty, 4K streaming can use as much as 7GB per hour.
Using the Fetch TV guide
Just like the physical TV guide found in the newspaper, Fetch's TV guide allows you to see all the programming coming up over the next seven days across both Free-to-Air and Fetch TV subscription channels.
Accessing the Fetch TV guide is as easy as pressing the TV Guide button on your remote or navigating to the menu. The TV Guide is available from the Fetch website and the Fetch Mobi App too. The Fetch TV guide allows a great deal of functionality and customisation from setting recordings, adding or removing channels from your Favourites list, and accessing content from the past 24 hours.
These are the most popular NBN 50 plans with WhistleOut users this week:
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#1
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Dodo
All Fixed Line nbn®
Editor's Pick
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$57.99/mth
Min. cost $57.99
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amaysim
All Fixed Line nbn®
NBN50
$45/mth
Min. cost $45
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#3
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Tangerine Telecom
All Fixed Line nbn®
Value Plus NBN 50/20
$64.90/mth
Min. cost $64.90
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#4
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TPG
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$69.99/mth
Min. cost $69.99
Link not supplied
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#5
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Aussie Broadband
All Fixed Line nbn®
Value nbn - Unlimited
$70/mth
Min. cost $70
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#6
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Superloop
All Fixed Line nbn®
Extra-value nbn50/20
$69/mth
Min. cost $69
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#7
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iiNet
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn50 Liimitless
$69.99/mth
+ $10 Upfront
Min. cost $79.99
Link not supplied
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|
#8
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Belong
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NBN Standard Plus – Unlimited
$55/mth
Min. cost $55
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#9
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Kogan Internet
All Fixed Line nbn®
Silver Unlimited
$69.90/mth
Min. cost $69.90
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#10
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Flip
All Fixed Line nbn®
Unlimited Family nbn50
$68/mth
Min. cost $68
|
Dylan Crismale
Digital Content Editor
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