When you use ChromeCast to access FTA replacement, i.e. streamed FTA, is it convenient (is there any epg and is it simple to change channels, for example), and can you pause, rewind, ff, replay etc easily, predictably and smoothly? I haven’t used my ChromeCast for a decade or so, and it will be too out of date to answer these questions.
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It does indeed. However I am not so interested in commercial channels that i want their apps on my AppleTV.
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The previous reply was specific to whether one could access FTA programming through the CromeCast. For more complete answers to some of your questions on the features of each option there is a Choice review of the most common devices.
As an aside - we’ve owned 3 Fetch boxes since 2010. They were great for our needs at the time. Now having a decent NBN connection relative to the old copper ADSL, and up to date LG smart TV we found our last Fetch was hardly being used. Noted each newer version of the Fetch as you commented was not as good as the previous. We stopped using the Fetch in 2023. The Fetch recording capabilities as a PVR were certainly great at a time when we had lesser internet. We now have a CromeCast on an older TV and a current model LG Smart TV. The LG has recording capability to a USB connected device when needed.
Agree a Fetch would be a great choice if one’s TV did not have similar features. To consider whether the future demand for the Fetch and others will decline given the capabilities built into modern TV’s. Not so good if one finds a Fetch meets needs better than the features built in to the Smart TV or ones older TV is no longer that smart.
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Our household records every FTA program we want to watch as well as every one we might want to watch. Whatever we want to watch gets watched at leisure, including the ability to skip through commercials, pause, and reposition programming will.
Broadcaster catch up programming gets deleted after a period and not every program is available. Most have embedded commercials that usually cannot be skipped over, and seemingly have more of them than live broadcasts. Worse yet, some time out if put on pause for more than a brief period or if one does a ‘wrong thing’; recovery is to start from the beginning and fast forward, watch a commercial, fast forward to the next commercial, etc, until getting to where it left off. Not friendly!
From our perspective smart features are smart for the services as it maximises what they can sell or charge for. Much less so for a consumer trying to selectively watch programming. That revenue is required to keep services going is not the issue; usability is and there are increasingly limited choices regardless of willingness or ability to pay.
Not many years ago the market included Beyonwiz, Topfield, and Humax, all now defunct or no longer in Australia, that could in some models record 10 programs at once with some restrictions. We still have one of each brand; from reviews and reading user guides even the worst of them seems an equal or better product than Fetch. The only alternative appears a Panasonic PVR that is high priced and can only record 2 programs at once.
Fetch is essentially ‘it’, take it, live with the limited Panasonic, or it could be that catch up and smart TV features satisfy one’s wants. I suspect the market has and continues to speak in consumer priorities as the product genre has shrunk over time and is likely to all but disappear if not disappear in coming years.
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I purchased my Fetch Maxi direct from Telstra about 6 weeks. Telstra Support is pretty pathetic too - but an imporovement on zero. The My Telstra online chat staff are capable of only restating what is in the User Manual. They admitted they have very litle Fetch knowledge and I should phone Telstra…. but only Mon to Fri. The Telstra/Fetch provisioning is out of synch. My free 1 month Ultimate package expired late on a Friday.aftrnoon, It was not until late the following Monday that I was able to see the option to resubscribe to any Fetch packages. My Telstar Chat had abso;lutely no idea what I was even talkibg about, I only subscribe to the Knowledge Pack so I can watch the international news channels. I agree Fetch is pretty clunky …. but for my purpose …. for less than $8 per month I can watch the news channels I paid $92 per month to watch on Foxtel. The Fetch Maxi works quite well as a PVR. I believe Fetch will improve over time. Foxtel is expensive and dreadful… subscribers are cancelling in droves. I suggest you communicate with the retailer you purchased the box from and exercise yoiur statutory rights under ACL. If you bought your box demand a refund. I will be keeping mine and hope I do not need tyo seek any further support!
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Fetch TV’s been sending frequent notifications about updates lately. After the latest, an email announced that it was back online and that the account password had to be reset, with instructions for doing so.
Either the upgrade introduced a bug or too many people are rushing to comply – following the instructions several times over a period of a couple of hours this morning gets this:
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Aloha everybody! I’ve also had many problems with my Fetch box but despite them it is still a good solution for me because I can record from free-to-air TV and access all my streaming apps in one place.
I’ve always had an email address for them for support and whilst they aren’t always able to address things, they are always responsive. Give this a try: [email protected]
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I never received the update emails requiring a new password. Today I have tried to log in but cannot. Before logging in there was a message on log in page stating that all users need to create a new password, but is impossible to do if you cannot log in.
When I tried again several days later, it was no longer saying “too many requests”, and I was able to change the password. You have to use “Forgot your password?” as instructed below, rather than trying to log in with the old password.
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Thanks isopeda. Managed to log in after your help. I made my payment. It finally showed up on bank account, yet still had to email fetch support as even after restarting fetch box it was still not playing channels paid for. 
. 3 hours later, cannot log into fetch website.
I don’t have any experience of Fetch subscription payment processing, because we only use our Fetch TV box as a set-top box for free-to-air or Internet TV, and have never had any Fetch subscriptions (but have to have a login account to be able to use it at all).
Sounds like they don’t process payments quickly. Maybe give them 24 hours (from when you paid), then hassle them again?
I tested logging in to Fetch just now, and found that I had to go to the fetchtv ‘manage’ link to be able to log in with username and password. If you just go to their home page and select ‘Account’, you have to give your original device activation code, which I did have, and a “Parental PIN”, which I didn’t have. Once I logged in with username and password via the ‘manage’ link I was able to set the ‘Parental PIN’.
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Ok. So now fetch is working as expected. However the paid channels now require the volume on my tv to be at 70 to hear well. Prior to problems the tv volume was only on 18.
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Somewhere in Fetch settings there is/was a setting to “Normalise Volume” supposed to equalise all the different sources. I never found it to work, but it did make a big difference to volume levels of particular sources, so perhaps you/they have inadvertently changed that setting?
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Thanks JMR. Funnily enough I had to turn off the noise leveller and now volume is back to normal.
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Are Fetch breaking consumer law? A family member just bought a new Fetch box. On the side of the box it says: “$1 one-off activation fee payable by Australian Visa or Mastercard. Fee price subject to change.”
When she went to activate it, she found that the fee is now $5. Even a ridiculous five-fold increase probably falls within their “subject to change” provisions, but that’s not where it ends. It now turns out that any Fetch box registered under a new account from 1 December 2025 now incurs an ongoing monthly charge of $3.99, and this continues indefinitely. Apparently, if the charge isn’t paid then the Fetch box simply stops working.
How can this possibly be legal? Firstly, “Fee price subject to change” shouldn’t cover them for the introduction of an entire new additional fee structure. Secondly, how is it remotely legal for someone to buy a device only to be told that they have to pay an infinitely ongoing fee for it to remain functional? Just imagine the outcry if manufacturers of cars, smart TVs, fridges and other consumer goods adopted this money-grabbing approach.
Choice - isn’t this a campaign which you could be fighting?
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Unfortunately it won’t be breaking the Australian Consumer Law, as it specifies that the activation ‘Fee price subject to change’.
Monthly subscription fees are different to activation fees. Other industries use both activation and monthly fees models. Retail service providers for the NBN are an example, where they charge activation or setup fees are paid upfront, with ongoing monthly service fees.
*Edit:
Just imagine the outcry if manufacturers of cars, smart TVs, fridges and other consumer goods adopted this money-grabbing approach.
There are many examples that do, and have been subject to discussions within the community. Whether it a car manufacturer who charges subscriptions for additional features (satnav or improved performance), Smart TVs which are advertised as having preinstalled apps for streaming services which don’t work without paid subscription, fridges where manufacturers will bring in subscriptions, software requiring subscriptions and the list goes on for many electronic/smart and LoT products.
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Sorry, but I can’t agree. Firstly, there was no warning to the purchaser about any ongoing fee, only about the activation fee. They’re two entirely different things. Given that in this instance the purchaser has two family members with Fetch boxes who aren’t up for monthly fees she was entitled to believe that they aren’t a part of the Fetch system.
Secondly your comparison with NBN doesn’t hold up. The NBN is providing a service as are eg electricity suppliers. In none of these cases is the purchase of a piece of capital equipment involved.
Again using your examples, a car manufacturer charges a one-off fee, usually included in the purchase price, for additional features to be made available. Obviously the buyer knows this when deciding on the purchase. Later, they may be up for an optional fee for eg map updates, but there is no suggestion that all functionality disappears if the upgrade fee isn’t paid.
Try to imagine the situation, and the legal challenges, if someone bought a new car and at the time the keys are handed over they’re told that the air-conditioning will cease to operate unless they continue to pay the dealer an ongoing monthly fee. Don’t you think there would be absolute outrage? To me, this is an entirely parallel situation.
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Most LoT are the same. Using a smart TV as an example. Many smart TV manufacturers advertise streaming service apps such as Netflix, Stan, Disney etc are preinstalled or can be used on their TVs. They don’t state that there is ongoing subscriptions or what it is. Often information that an additional paid subscription is required is presented in fine print in the terms of service associated with the TV - but who reads this before or on purchase of a TV.
One can’t expect to buy a smart TV assuming all the apps will work without ongoing subscription. Likewise the Fetch TV box.
Many cars (this website explains some of the ongoing subscriptions car manufacturers are persuing), particularly EVs have subscription packages, so your scenario already exists. A good example is Tesla, which offers greater vehicle functionality with ongoing subscriptions. Don’t pay the next subscription, one loses the service. This is one example, and another.
Yes there is, the router which allows connection to the NBN. Many RSPs provide routers as part of the activation/setup fee.
Using router for example, they can also be bought at many shops selling electronics. One can buy a router from these stores marketed as being ‘NBN ready’ or ‘NBN Compliant’. One can’t use the router for connection to the NBN with paying a RSP an activation/setup fee and ongoing monthly subscription fees.
Likewise mobile phone data dongles. These are similar where they can be purchased, but require data to be purchased separately through prepaid or ongoing monthly mobile data subscription.
There are many examples similar to Fetch TV boxes. I understand it is frustrating that subscriptions are a ‘pain in the arse’, one should never assume any internet connected device will work when immediately plugged into the internet. One needs to do a little homework (such as visiting the Fetch TV website) or ask sales staff at the time of purchase to what is required.
Unfortunately subscription models appear to be the way of the future. They are even talking about subscription model potentially being used for electricity:
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I agree with kortravel99 - the examples you give are not the same as the Fetch example (assuming that new payment is accurate). Paying for a subscription to use an app included with a smart TV is paying for an add-on service, not the hardware. It doesn’t go to the TV manufacturer, it goes to the streaming service provider. Same applies to Fetch, where you can subscribe to streaming services just like anywhere else.
But this new fee by Fetch is like buying your TV and then having to pay monthly to keep your TV working at all, even for FTA. It is absurd.
The Tesla example is also faulty. You pay for “EXTRA” functionality, not base operation.
I suspect that Fetch are struggling to survive. In the past they generated much of their income from their add-on streaming channel subscriptions, but these are probably disappearing into the noise with so many streaming services now available. I guess their income from that is fast disappearing. They also had a $1 movie box offering 30 movies at a time, which more recently went up in price to $3 or $4. I cancelled this on the price rise because the titles they offered were so awful.
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Could be, but unlikely since Telstra is the main owner. Or, it could be to squeeze more money from their loyal customers. Many businesses which change to subscription service model is about making more money from its customers.
I personally wouldn’t buy a Fetch TV box. Most of the base features are no different to that which exists on a standard smart TV. The only difference with the cheapest subscription is they offer ‘60+ extra channels’ (some of these are additional streaming channels offered by some existing broadcasters + a number which are streamed by others). Whether the $3.99/month is worth this depends on if one believes these extra channels are value.
Android TV (Google Chrome or slightly more for a media player) doesn’t cost much more, and is likely to have similar functionality. But, a Google account is required.
Likewise Apple TV box, Firesticks etc.
As in indicated above:
A minute online it is easy to determine the requirements of Fetch TV. Unfortunately, such doesn’t work with impulse shopping.
Subscriptions will become more common in the future in the digital world as it is a way for businesses to increase revenues/cashflows and profits.
