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Paramount+ $8.99 Per Month / $89.99 Per Year (Save 15%) with 7-Day Free Trial

450

FREE 7-day trial with Paramount+ at https://www.paramountplus.com/au/

After the trial: $8.99pm | $89.99pa (15% saving)

Includes access to catalogues from Channel Ten, Paramount, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, Smithsonian Channel and more!

Sports lovers will enjoy A-League, W-League, Socceroos, Matildas and heaps of other football competitions (thanks chuq).

Kids shows include SpongeBob SquarePants and a new series of iCarly.
Adult animated shows include South Park (including new seasons and new movies).
Adult TV shows include Dexter (including an upcoming revival series)
Sci-Fi lovers will enjoy a new movie starring Mark Wahlberg (available now) and Twilight Zone (new series).
Live American news on CBSN too if that is your thing.

I am not a fan of segmented streaming services but I am willing to give this one a go. If it is good, their pricing seems very fair.

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closed Comments

  • +102

    Honestly what was the point of cutting cable if every man and his dog decided they wanted to open a streaming service?

    • +16

      It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'd love to know who will survive. There's no way they all can. There is too much content if you subscribe to them all and too little content if you don't. I imagine Paramount will stick around though being a large movie studio with money behind them.

      I believe Netflix are heavily in debt due to the sheer amount of money they pour into their home-grown content and they don't have any additional revenue streams.

      I also doubt Amazon will fall because they are the largest retailer on Earth and fly their CEOs to space.

        • +20

          What in the world are you on about. How do they usurp when they don’t even have a streaming platform? There’s only one prime video and it doesn’t belong to alibaba.
          You’ve been exclusively watching sky brainwashing “news”

          • +1

            @Fuzor: I wouldn't even call them News channel. It's easier to believe The Onion or Shovel articles than to believe anything Sky says lol.

        • +6

          You're missing the key to why Amazon is successful, it's not their proximity to manufacturers, it's their proximity/delivery/customer service. When Aliexpress gets remotely close in terms of delivery ease and customer service (not even remotely comparative) come back, until then it's just a dumb comment.

          • +3

            @pakkapie: You also have to factor in trust to the competitive advantages Amazon has over Aliexpress. That we trust Amazon at all is almost satire, but compared to Aliexpress or any Chinese company they are like…well I don't know, insert whatever company you trust the most.

          • +4

            @pakkapie: Alibaba won't succeed because Jack Ma said some naughty things and Winnie the Pooh took him for a trip to the enchanted forest.

            Repeat ad nauseum for anyone who crosses Winnie.

            Don't think we'll ever see Trumpy or Biden "disappearing" CEOs.

      • +5

        It's easy you just rotate services. Or you know. Watch less TV. Or acquire by other means.

      • +6

        People like me will make them survive who pays for everything haha

        I have

        Sony PSN - $90 pa
        Xbox game pass - $14.90 pm
        Nintendo online - $5.99 pm
        Fetch TV - free with optus NBN
        Optus Sport - free with optus NBN
        Netflix - $8AUD (turkish VPN trick)
        YouTube Premium - $3.5 (indian VPN trick)
        Foxtel platinum - free from bro
        Stan - $19 pm
        DisneyPlus - free from nephew
        Amazon Prime - free from bro

        and now
        Paramount plus - $90 pa

        (and yes I share my details with family)

        • Please share those VPN tricks or is it as simple as connecting to Turkey/India server and subscribing?

        • Looks like you dont pay for a lot of the video streaming sites so its still not counted as a customer as it will only be 1 account / subscription coming through. Disney started this mess sadly. Netflix basically reduced piracy considerably by bringing to everyone a decent priced streaming service that had a lot of the shows from numerous studios. Disney has basically ruined all what netflix did and a lot of people will go back to piracy as its now becoming too pricey to get the shows you want as they are all on separate streaming services.

          I am still amazed how much Stan costs compared to some of the others. But they do have a lot of content similar to fox and i believe there is a connection between them and fox and ch9.

          I subscribe and pay for

          XBGP
          Foxtel Platinum Plus
          Stan (4k membership)
          Netflix (Through foxtel and i pay on top for the 4k membership)
          Disney
          Amazon
          Kayo
          Youtube
          AppleTV (is free for 1 .5 years after i got a Apple product but about to expire and i will not renew).

          Its getting to the point that I will have to make a choice at some point soon on what to remove. I will remove appletv+ and kayo. And possibly one more. what do you think of Paramount+ since you have got it? Is it worthwhile?

        • +2

          How the hell do you have time for anything ? I don't work and maybe watch 2 hours of TV a week at most, sometimes I go weeks and the the TV doesn't come on as I can't find the time or can't be bothered. ? I have so much content on the ABC and SBS apps I don't even know where to start 1/2 the time and that's free.

          • @ruprectaus: what fills your day if you don't work? genuinely curious

        • You are shafting yourself by paying for Nintendo online monthly, you save yourself $41.45 by paying for a year upfront.

        • Lol you dont pay for everything you are using vpns etc.

          Gets expensive though:

          Netflix, Disney+, Stan, Kayo, Amazon Prime, Curiosity Stream for starters.

          And now Paramount Plus.

          Im wondering if I should just buy a big hard drive and a newserver sub lol.

          ironically, i watch mostly youtube.

      • +1

        I believe Netflix are heavily in debt due to the sheer amount of money they pour into their home-grown content and they don't have any additional revenue streams.

        Netflix is a very profitable company and have beat analyst expecations on both EPS and net revenue but the subscriber growth has slowed a fair bit, probably cause everyone who wanted a Netflix account, already got one ;)

        https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/20/netflix-nflx-q1-2021-earning…
        https://ir.netflix.net/financials/financial-statements/defau…

      • I've heard that in America, it's different.
        You simply choose one provider and they all have almost the same content.
        If so it wouldn't surprise me here in Australia

    • +20

      At $89 a year I’m still largely ok with it… Disney Plus at $89 a year is a bargain… Tbh Netflix is the expensive one… charging so much for 4K is ridiculous…

      • +15

        It's reasonable when you share with 5 households like me.

      • +5

        I was thinking about my Tidal Hi-Fi subscription today and I did some quick maths. I love it but at $24pm for their best quality which takes up less than 4% of Netflix/Stan's 4K streaming bandwidth, it is too damn overpriced.

        • +2

          Looked into Apple Music? They have lossless now. AM family subscription costs less than Tidal Hi-Fi. The AM apps suck though.

        • Look into a Tidal family plan slot.

          Also Apple lossless even though free is currently not easily usable in its current form. To many hoops to jump though to get full lossless with Apple ie. Can only use ipad with its auto rate changing, then need a cable to connect to an outboard Dac (Audioquest Dragonfly etc) then to your headphones or Ht system. Then there is the ease of use.

          Tidal or Quobuz for now is easier to use if full lossless is your end game. YMMV.

        • Tidal 'hifi' is no where NEAR hifi.
          its about on par to Spotify premium.. their compression does not constitute hi-fi at all sadly.. and all their "MQA" talk is marketing.

          • +1

            @CyberBlade: You realise that Tidal's HiFi subscription includes regular lossless 44/16?

        • +1

          pay for it in Argentina its less than $2 a month :)
          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/444411

      • +10

        Disney Plus at $89 a year is a bargain…

        Except it is $119.99 a year.

        • +1

          Not for those of us who subscribed through iTunes… buys you extra time at introductory rates… done this with all sub services over the years

      • I find Stan 4K the most expensive for what it has. Disney Plus has gone up , it wont be 89$ anymore. I believe its $120 now as well Disney has revenue coming from merchandise and movie theatres etc, Netflix have had to resort to making a lot of their own shows that are only shown via the streaming service, if they branched out then possibly they can charge less for their streaming service. Saying that for newly made content I think Netflix has more than Disney but can change. Disney then charges exorbitant fees for the Premier access which it seems like some people do pay for (I cant believe pay that much but some people are willing to)

      • I subbed and Paramountplus imo is mediocre. Disney plus and Prime are way way better as (to a lesser extent) stan and netflix.

    • +1

      Point? Simple - before, content providers had to deal with cable operators and share profits, now, they bilk/bill you directly. They win, you, not so much.

    • +10

      I feel this
      Foxtel wanted $100 a month and everybody jumped ship once Netflix was around for $10 a month, but every few months <insert studio, company, producer here> starts their own up and it ends up costing $100 anyway 😂

      • +16

        Least it's easy to pop in and out of subscriptions. Don't think many people have more than 2-3 subs at one time. You can easily jump into a different subscription service and slurp all their content for a few months and leave. Pay TV never had all the content in the world. Switching between subscription services these days, you pretty much do. And still much cheaper than pay tv.

        • +1

          Expect a reactionary model to the switching once the critical mass of services is on the market.

          They just haven't figured out a way to make you subscribe for a minimum time more than a month yet to stop binge watching the latest series in one month.

        • Thats true but Pay TV has other benefits i find, especially in times where internet is down or slow etc As well as i find at times quality can be higher (surprisingly) Plus they have sports and PVR boxes out there… With all the subscriptions i have, I still end up watching Foxtel the most and find it the easiest. The PVR aspect makes things a lot easier too (but of course you can do that with other boxes).

          • @lonewolf: Not necessarily true if you live in a major metropolitan area. Slow internet is mostly a thing of the past with the right ISP. Foxtel quality is debatable as it depends on what you watch. Major sports is spread across multiple platforms these days and no longer a foxtel thing. And PVR boxes are mostly a past relic from the early 2000s . Even more so with satellite/cable pay tv :)
            Given all of this having access to multiple streaming services whenever needed is much more convenient than paying $100 for one pay tv provider who never really had much else other than sports and a few series cherrypicked for Australia. All their "channels" were a region specific version made especially for aus/nz severely lacking in content and packed with repeats.
            I think disney+ and paramount+ are the real game changers. Netflix, Stan and the likes are still content aggregators and can only ever provide what they could source from the big networks. Their "original content" is limited to people who really want to watch something "new" but most people who on go on streaming services prefer the ability to rewatch what they've watched in the past and can relate to. And thats where disney+ and paramount+ has the advantage with vast libraries and shows that people remember from the past. Netflix and the likes can never really match this even if they made 1000s of so called "originals". Im surprised there haven't been much more focus on past series/classics rather than new series/originals. Afterall would anyone ever really pirate a netflix original?

            • +1

              @Rexxy: A lot of people i know who live in Metropolitan Sydney have slow and speed issues with their internet. NBN in some areas was a step back as they got pushed onto FTTN where as before they had Cable internet. FTTN has so many issues as well as if you have multiple people in the household, all of whom are streaming then…..

              Sports is still predominantly a Foxtel thing, a dedicated NRL channel as well as dedicated Cricket and AFL channels. Plus a lot of the sports can be watched in 4k like Formula 1 which looks really good in 4k. A lot of the sports is then given to the other streaming apps, most of which belong to Foxtel or have a agreement with Foxtel so foxtel makes money of them anyway. NRL wouldnt be around last year if not for Foxtel, Ch 9 did not want to pay for it to go ahead but Foxtel did.

              Foxtel still gets most of the HBO content which is not available elsewhere without either a company affiliated with foxtel or using VPN and getting it from the US. Foxtel gets a lot of Day Zero content thats just been released in the US, like Walking Dead etc. but like i said, Binge, KAyo, Foxtel Now, and even Stan have connections to Foxtel and hence have shared content. Which in turn means foxtel makes money through them and uses that to subsidise the licence fees etc.

              Netflix Originals seem to sweep the US awards shows these days, but saying that for me Netflix was the gamechanger because the facts show it singlehandedly changed Piracy, a lot of people moved from piracy to Netflix when it was getting a lot of shows from most studios at a cheap price. Disney has actually promoted piracy by their actions, what they have started is moving people back to piracy which is a shame as now there are too many streaming sites.

              I am not a big Fan of Foxtel and I agree with you as i feel they charge way too much but I can see why it has happened like that due to lack of cable TV competition as well as having to lay down all that infrastructure for a sprawling audience plus having to licence all the different studio shows as well as sports. Foxtel will be around in different forms for a long time unless someone else can compete with them for Sports licences as well as sponsorship. The Kind of Money foxtel throws into Sports is a lot and hence they need to recuperate it somehow.

        • And advert free!

      • +1

        What's even more frustrating about Foxtel is, I still enjoy using it.
        They strong arm you into purchasing all the knicks and knacks just to use their services, then lock you into contracts.
        Yet you can use Foxtel Go from anywhere, that shows their streaming works perfectly fine without the 'necessary' IQ Box.

        Yet they also own Binge and Kayo, Foxtel have their hand in all pieces of the pie.

        I'd gladly pay $40 a month if it meant I could just stream Foxtel with the ease and accessibility of Netflix, without all these contracts.

    • +28

      This fragmentation is gonna cause people to go back to pirating.. That and high quality Movies are available on release (R.I.P cam releases)

      • I am very happy I have maintained my BTN account

      • +1

        I don't get the comments here saying "too many streaming services around so people will just go back to pirating". So the logic is that people initally went to piracy because pay tv was too expensive/limited content/long term contracts but now we have so much more choice in content directly from the networks at a fraction of the cost with multiple streaming services…so people are going back to pirating???
        Having multiple streaming services doesn't mean that people will be forced to subscribe to all of them at any one time so no need to be scared of streaming services. I gues the older generation s just prefer to pay one monthly payment and be done with rather than paying for what you want when you want it. You just subscribe to what you want to watch for however long you watch and just cancel and move on to the next one. Simple! Content is king in streaming not the provider whereas in pay tv its just one provider supplying what they could afford/source bundled with a whole heap of rubbish that you would have no interest in watching (honestly there was waayy too much focus on sports back in the days when Foxtel had the monopoly and very little else in edless repeats - why are people annoyed that this is no longer the case

        • What I'd like to see is a consolidator service. A single app which gives you all the content for a single price. Ie, app does a deal with Disney, Paramount, Apple etc, You pay a single fee (which effectively creates accounts across all of them) and can just watch stuff in a single app.

          I know it will never happen but it would be nice. Would help with the constant "I watch to watch X, which bloody service is it on" type issues.

    • +6

      Honestly what was the point of cutting cable if every man and his dog decided they wanted to open a streaming service?

      I’ve never understood this argument.

      None of the streaming services have a contract. You can easily turn them on/off at any time.

      I can only watch so many things at once. So I only pay for the 1-2 services I am actively using at a given time.

      • This… The reason cable was so unaffordable for many was the commitment that you need as well to go into contract…

        • +2

          And then the promises they made (ad free etc.) were forgotten, channels were changed and moved to new subscription offers (Foxtell the worst)

      • Exactly,

        It works out if you can just hold off watching something you want to for awhile.
        Let heaps of shows cue up on said Network, then subscribe again, binge and unsubscribe.

        • Yes true but then it sort of defeats the purpose of ondemand / streaming services where you watch what you want to watch and when you want to watch. This was why people were willingly to pay extra for. So if you had to wait a few months before going on that service for just 1 show then you will just end up downloading it….

          • @lonewolf: That's just the problem if people don't have the self control, then it'll affect their finances.
            The general gist is simple.

            Piracy keeps getting harder and harder than it was. You've godda be in the circle, or you're out.
            Public trackers are what you get done using. Private is just that.. private.

            • @JDNE: Just find a friend that's running a German plex server. I don't even have to download anything now.

              You shouldn't have to practice self control when you're trying to unwind from work. People want to watch xyz when they get home, then ABC before bed and 123 while eating. It's not about building up stuff you want, it's about watching what you want when you feel like it.

              • @krisspy: And that in turn costs money.
                I'm not arguing that they shouldn't be able to watch what they want, when they want it.

                This will in turn though, cost you more money overall. that's something you've either got to absorb, or work around it wisely.
                By letting things just build up and then watching what you want on said service until your through your list, then swapping to another. You're saving heaps of money and still watching the same content, just a little bit later.


                In terms of piracy, people still get done. These companies aren't just giving up because it's hard to battle.

            • @JDNE: how many people in Australia have gotten done for piracy?

              • @esosite: Are we talking actual fines or just infringement notices? I've got a whole binder of those lol

      • Yup exactly! Lot of comments here saying "too many streaming services around so people will just go back to pirating". So the logic is that people initally went to piracy because pay tv was too expensive/limited content/long term contracts but now we have so much more choice in content directly from the networks at a fraction of the cost with multiple streaming services…so people are going to back to pirating??? umm…Am i missing something or do these people know why piracy came along in the first place :)

    • +1

      This is packages decoupled, no more Foxtel/Austar basics for $25 ($49 before Netflix) for literally 3 good channels. A couple of the channels you want spread out between each shitty package.

      This is exactly what we wanted, each of these independent services have to compete in an environment where people just sign up for a month at a time and turn off auto-renew, this is why Star Trek Discovery exists.

      Without these competitive services, when SyFy cancelled The Expanse, we wouldn't have gotten it back from Prime.

    • I never had cable and never will and I pay for that I watch.
      I won't pay for this as I don't need this. (If I did, its 10$ a month and cancelled again)

  • +15

    What's next Lionsgate Plus?

    • Surprised that studio is still around after the end of The Hunger Games.

  • +4

    Market has fragmented like nothing..

    • +1

      thats basically cable networks in usa

  • +38

    Great, another one! I'm going back to pirate Bay!

    • It is replacing '10 All Access', so not increasing the number of streaming services available.

      • +43

        Today I learned people actually paid $9.99 a month to access channel 10 content 🤯

        • +8

          An increase from zero is still zero.

          • +8

            @onlinepred: Why wouldn’t they? If anything things are worse than they were 10 years ago with all the fragmentation of all the providers and their shitty apps.

            The music industry is the only one that has mostly improved with very little exclusive content across providers.

              • +7

                @onlinepred: For lots of people pirating isn’t about money. But sure, keep riding that high horse off into the sunset.

                • -3

                  @PainToad: If it isn't about money, use a google tv and pay for the services you want.

                • @PainToad: I'm sure its not about the money for them, but it is for the studios producing the content. What sort of quality of content will you get in the future if nobody's making money producing the content today, People who justify pirating for whatever reason, seem unable to grasp that the industry that provides the content, actually pays people for their craft, professionalism and services If the studios continually don't get a return on their investment via ticket sales, licensing fees and subscriptions, then all we can look forward to is low cost bland content and reruns. This is the long term harm that people pirating just refuse to acknowledge.

              • +7

                @onlinepred: False equivalence, you mean IP infringement which is quite different from stealing a physical product and the impact on the owner is also different.

                I also believe the argument being made is that the fragmentation of the services may drive some to acquire content using alternative means if it is difficult or complex to acquire legally.

                  • +1

                    @onlinepred: Your comprehension skills are lacking…Please indicate where I said it made it hard for me or that I was resorting to pirating or rationalising breaking the law. I have Foxtel (premium), Netflix, Prime, & Disney but am yet to see the need for others.

                    I made an observation on actions taken when OTHERS find it difficult whilst calling out that IP infringement is not theft.

                  • +1

                    @onlinepred: Blah blah blah breaking the law breaking the law

                    Piracy is NOT a criminal offence in Australia. Only distribution of pirated material.
                    I’m not advocating piracy but at least know what the law is ffs

                    • -1

                      @ChadHominem: From what I know, it's copyright infringement. Which is breaking the law. It's not the old - if you only download and don't upload thing.

                      "Copyright infringement
                      The copyright legislation in Australia regarding the
                      use of digitised media is relatively straightforward.
                      There are no grey areas in relation to what
                      constitutes copying because it is simply illegal to
                      download, upload, reproduce, remake or remix any
                      copyright protected material without the express
                      permission of the copyright owner.
                      This means that in terms of music (even if you
                      purchased it legitimately in the first instance), it is
                      illegal to place music in a shared folder connected
                      to a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network, to
                      burn a CD, or even to convert a CD into an MP3
                      (Australian Copyright Council 2004). "

                      • +3

                        @onlinepred: I think that is more their opinion than a law…if they quoted an Act or federal law, even a state law, then that would support their statement of the act being illegal…is there a law\Act quoted by them? The Copyright Act was amended a while ago but I think it only allows copyright holders to ask for blocks etc (please correct me if I am wrong as I'm not a lawyer). This site explains it a bit https://www.gotocourt.com.au/civil-law/digital-piracy-copyri…

                        • @Ben Kenobi: Again I'm out of my depth, but :

                          Copyright infringement
                          28.11 Copyright is infringed if a person does or authorises the doing, in Australia, of any act falling within the copyright in a work without the copyright owner’s permission.[16] Such conduct must relate to the whole or a ‘substantial’ part of the work, and the test of substantiality refers primarily to the quality of what is taken.[17]

                          So basically if you don't have permission to make a copy of copyrighted material, then you have infringed. It mostly talks about either partial copy or entire copy. So if you download a whole movie, without authorisation to make a copy. Legally there are exemptions, like if you own a CD, and you copy the cd to your computer using a rights managed device, that's okay.

                          https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00741

                          • +1

                            @onlinepred: Cool, that pretty much clears it up then …the legislation covers the issue without much greyness!

      • Oh well that's very interesting!

      • +1

        10 All Access was the dumbest one, Hayu makes more sense, but CBS upgraded sounds awesome.

        I just rewatched Dexter on Plex, great first 4 seasons, glad that finale will no longer be the ending.

  • +1

    Maybe it will have full access to all South Park/Comedy Central? This is the first time I've ever seen this offered in Aus.

    Also the deal for a future 12 South Park movies and many more seasons is good. Congrats to epic pay day for Matt/Trey.

    • +3

      Foxtel has full access to south park. Netflix also has like 5 seasons and so does stan..

      But agree on the good pay day for the 2 creators! Maybe they will have enough money to make baseketball reality now

      • +2

        Access to everything and new content as soon as it is released is very different than a streaming service like netflix temporarily licensing a few of seasons here and there.

    • +2

      amazon to

  • +10

    I prefer Kanopy, and it is free !!!

    • +11

      iView and SBS-on-demand.

      • +5

        Don't bother with SBS, too many ads

    • +2

      Good one, jv. As an aside - and I'm sure you know of it, but maybe not everyone does - I'm also a big fan of PressReader which also provides free access to magazines (like TopGear, Money, Fortean Times, T3, Taste, Decanter, etc) via selected local libraries….

  • +2

    Every Hollywood company wants a piece of the cake that Netflix is having.

    • +1

      You talking like it's 2012, there are so any out there for so many years now..

  • +7

    Also worth mentioning Paramount+ is going to have A-League (and W-league, Socceroos, Matildas, and heaps of other football competitions).

    • +2

      Also if you have an A-League club membership Paramount+ can be added for $70/year.

      • Hey can you post that deal on OzBargin. I wasn't aware of that one

      • +1

        $60 with Melbourne Victory

        • +2

          Probably only way to incentivise watching the Victory after last season haha

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