Foxtel's OS apartheid

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 01 October 2009 10:32

Your IT - Entertainment

Other wrinkles tucked away in the 'fine print' (to be fair, there's nothing unusual about the type size) include:

14 days to begin watching the downloads, then seven days (48 hours for pay-per-view content) to finish;

No more than four users per household (tough luck if you've got more than two kids);

No more than two authorised computers per household;

No display in a public place (so presumably you can't watch the content while travelling by bus, train or plane);

You can only download material while you're in Australia (tough luck if you want to keep up with your favourite shows while travelling);

"FOXTEL Box Office purchases made on the FOXTEL Download Service may not be viewed on your television" (so don't connect your computer to a TV unless it belongs to someone else);

Pay-per-view charges are applied to your credit card, not your Foxtel account; and

Platinum subscribers can't take their two free pay-per-view movies as downloads.

While a legal download service is welcome, it seems to be that Foxtel's falls short of what's required.