Looking for something a little more interesting than a YouTube playlist of cooking shows? We've had a revolution over the last couple of years in streaming video services on the 'net, and that means it's easier than ever to sit and put something entertaining on the box.
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Here's a list of every major TV catch-up service, and every subscription streaming website or app for movies and TV, available to Aussies.
Netflix: from $8.99 per month
Netflix is the streaming service du jour. It's the one that your parents and grandparents will already have heard about. With a large library of both movies and TV shows, new and old (and some original), there's thousands of hours of content available — it's kind of the standard by which every other subscription streamer is judged.
The big selling point of Netflix is that it's available pretty much everywhere in the world, and that means you can use it when you're travelling.
Stan: $10 per month
Stan is an Australian-made streaming service, started a year ago by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media (publisher of this website). It's one of the two main competitors to Netflix in Australia, and it's recently clocked over 700,000 subscribers and over 1.5 million users. Unlike Presto and Netflix, it's available on a single plan for a flat $10 monthly fee.
The big selling point that Stan lords over its competitors is a large library of Australian video and its own locally-produced series like No Activity.
Presto: from $9.99 per month
Presto is the online-only streaming service from the brains at Foxtel. You can pay $9.99 a month for either the Presto Movies or Presto TV package, or combine the two as Presto Entertainment for $14.99 per month. That gives you access to Presto's large library of older TV shows and movies, as well as HBO shows like True Detective and Boardwalk Empire.
If you like shows like The Walking Dead and Mr Robot, then Presto is the place you'll have to go to watch them.
Foxtel Play: from $25 per month
Foxtel Play is the most up-to-date of the subscription video services in this list, because it's the only one that also includes a live broadcast. Depending on which channel pack you choose, you'll pay as little as $25 per month or as much as $95 for entertainment, documentaries, drama and/or kids video, both live and on-demand.
The big selling point of Foxtel Play is that, if you subscribe to Foxtel already, you might have access for free — making it a no brainer.
Quickflix: $9.99 per month
Quickflix is one of the oldest movie and TV streaming services in Australia, and also offers DVD and Blu-ray mailing. It's just as diversely supported as the larger streaming services, and you're keeping your money in Australian pockets — which is never a bad thing.
Quickflix's big hook is that you're also able to purchase new release movies and TV series for short rental, at a flat rate per movie or episode, to stream as much as you want within a 48 hour period.
9Now
9Now from Channel Nine is the new name for what was previously called JumpIn; it's a new service built to suit the Nine Network's new live TV channels. You can currently watch the main Nine channel live, and the others are on the way — but until then you're still able to watch all of that on demand as well.
9Now is a platform specifically made for streaming live and on-demand — and it has a member system so you can track your favourite programs.
ABC iView
As the on-demand service for Australia's largest government-owned broadcaster, ABC iView has a bunch of Australian-made TV, as well as the channel's excellent news and current affairs programming, as well as plenty of other content from the BBC and other partners around the world. iView shows video from all four ABC channels as well as News 24.
As well as excellent news broadcasts, iView also lets you watch the main ABC channel live, and has a lot of closed-captioned and audio description too.
SBS On Demand
Australia's multicultural broadcaster's catch-up service is, hands down, the best one out there. It's quick, simple, and is full of amazingly diverse programming from both within Australia's many different communities and from around the world. Plus it's the home of Eurovision, so that certainly doesn't hurt either.
It's full of movies as well as first-run TV shows, and has some great Netflix-esque categories that should spur your interest in a topic if you're looking for one.
PLUS7
Plus7 is the catch-up service from Channel Seven, and as such it's the place you'll go to find Home And Away or Agents of SHIELD, or any of the network's other popular shows. It's skewed more to TV programs that have been broadcast in the last couple of weeks, so if there's something in particular that you missed, then it's an easy destination to pop in to.
It also has live streaming of Seven's various channels, too, so it's an easy place to go if your antenna is out or you don't have a TV.
TenPlay
The final major catch-up TV service in Australia is Channel Ten's TenPlay — as well as Ten, it shows TV and movies on demand from Eleven and ONE, which means a broad range of TV and the occasional movie. Ten also screens its nightly news and plenty of The Project, as well as popular TV series like Neighbours and the Aussie version of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
TenPlay's other bighook is the range of sporting content from ONE that it shows.
