Optus slashes entry costs for English Premier League after fan backlash
Telco Optus has backflipped on its decision to charge many customers an additional $15-per-month to access the English Premier League through its platforms, announcing today free access for many existing a new subscribers.
The company has started selling its EPL subscriptions today, and while it has stuck to plans to make people sign up for one of its mobile or broadband services before being able to access the sport, it has dramatically reduced the minimum spend for customers to get free access from $85-per-month to $30-per-month.
Ben White, managing director of marketing and product at Optus said in a release: “Optus has a track record of offering customers great value plans, packed with data and generous call inclusions, at affordable prices.
So you still need to become an Optus customer of some description to get access. How about if your only mobile is a company phone on the Telstra network. I’m not signing up to a mobile plan to then get a mixi device and pay $5 dollars and then pay for the football.
You can now get a $30 month plan with EPL included, $5 extra to be able to stream directly to your tv. Assuming you have absolutely no use for any optus service, you will be paying $35 a month to have epl streamed in HD on your tv, cheaper than the foxtel sports package.
If you’re unwilling to pay $35 a month for epl on your tv then thats your prerogative, just dont whinge that optus are making it inaccessible
The problem though with your example is that fox sports isn’t fox epl. It’s fox sports.
I currently watch f1, motogp, aleague, euros, copa america, bundesliga, world super bikes etc etc with the foxsports $25 sports package.
No way I’m rewarding optus by ripping the epl away to attract customers.
No way.
I will be watching the epl though 😉
You are wrong, yes that may be the case for the first year, but from the second season onwards it will be $30 + $15 (Season Pass p/m) + $5 for Fetch mini. A total of $50 if you just wanted to watch the EPL. Foxtel + Sport = $51 for everything. And you think Optus aren’t being unreasonable, for one measly league and no other sports?
Foxtel offered EPL on demand for 20 a month (only the months of the season). Optus is 35 a month, for a minimum 24 months.
$140.0 p.a vs $420.00 p.a
Australia already had enough content extortion for another player to “shake up” the industry by doing the exact same thing. I long for the day Netflix (or a company with equal vision) to take on sports…
The football is free. Using the device on any network costs 5 dollars a month. Am optus mobile account costs 30 dollars. So if you want to watch ep then it’s 35 dollars a month. Your choice.
I’m being forced to become an Optus customer to watch Football though. Considering i live in regional Australia, where Optus have told me first hand that they have a black spot in my area, becoming an optus customer just isn’t an option.
You cannot watch the EPL without subscribing to some sort of unrelated Optus product.
I don’t see why the media (inc Mumbrella) is making such a big deal about this given the numbers who watch the EPL are negligle (120,000 for a major game, below 40K for most others – looking at the sub tv top 20 every day for these figures)? Is it because there are so many poms working in media with a vested interest?
Sounds like a strategy tanking… Look forward to Singtel’s quarterly financial results to see the extent of the damage.
Wouldn’t want to be the person who signed off the business case to acquire the rights!
firstly its not footy soccer its football we’re a global fanbase…we sh1te on afl cricket and nrl supporters hence why foxtel went bonkers trying to get other channels..bein is lil meh on the repeat side but better than watching afl 24/7 same crappy teams wk in wk out..optus will do a decent job of it..u don’t pay all that money for nothing..its not afl that is worthless and majority of Australian idiots watch because they don’t know anything or iq is less than 10. FORZE ELLADA
Yes. You need to be an Optus customer to get access – $30 month.
Upgrade to Fetch for an extra $5 a month if you want a set top box.
All up it’s $35 month and you’ll get a new mobile phone number with 1.5GB data as a bonus.
Previously you needed to be a Foxtel customer. Their sports package is $51 month.
But a different company now has EPL rights. It’s not really that confusing. You can either a.) leave Foxtel and get Optus b.) get both Optus & Foxtel or c.) don’t watch EPL on demand.
Previously to stream the Premier league through Foxtel website eplondemand it used tpo cost $85 for the season thats around $7 a month, a lot cheaper that the $35 Optus is charging to stream.
Optus are still holding the consumer to ransom.
Illegal streaming it is.
Optus phone and internet just isn’t an option where i live due to extremely poor service + they use Telstra line’s where i live, so it’s just another cost on top again.
Hey Alex, does this bother you as much now Newcastle have been relegated? The Bein channels Foxtel are now offering with their sports package is surely more attractive as The Toon are bound to be broadcast most weeks?
Also, now that a little time has passed, I’ve kinda gotten over the fact I’m not getting the EPL with my Foxtel package. The games are on very late so I rarely watch them live, the better matches tend to be on Sundays anyway (so I can’t watch them ‘catch-up’ the next day) and I don’t support a PL team, so I’ll probably either cancel my Foxtel sports package (save a bit of cash), or stick with Foxtel and watch more A-League and watch EPL highlights online. I’m pretty sure I won’t be signing up to Optus.
This is going to backfire on Optus badly.
I’m already paying a monthly subscription fee to view Foxtel via satellite and now I have to pay more to another provider plus get another dish and set top box to keep watching the EPL?
No way José.
I smell a rat with Bein Sports conveniently adding two extra channels to my Fox subscription and waiving their annual fee just as Fox announced they won’t be airing the EPL.
Someone’s been receiving some nice backhanders on this deal for sure. Bein’s not showing anything new, just the same stuff now spread across three channels with more ads
They’re all crooks, the whole lot of them.
A couple of ways to make your voice heard:
A: Contact the communications Ombudsman and notify him of Optus hijacking the EPL and holding all of it’s Australian followers to ransom.
B: Don’t give RiptOptus a brass razoo………. and sit this one out
till they are forced to change their pricing – and they will be forced to change it again.
There’s still tonnes of football on Fox, Bein and ESPN including
the Skybet Championship which is just as good as the EPL anyway.
Hang in there folks, this isn’t the end of the story.
In 2016 you do not need to let a corporation fck you over. Vodafail is an example of how the people can rise up. You will need to be organised though and understand the law, or just get Kodi…
Just went to look at the plans seeing as I need a new phone anyway. I’m reluctant to sign up as I still don’t agree with holding people to ransom. I read the plans and noticed that even though you get the first season free you have to sign up for 2 years and the second year is charged at $15 per month. You have to have the $100 plan to get it for free.
They have supposedly made it easier for fans but they are still holding everyone at ransom and then sucking you in with a free season before you realise in the 2nd year you then have to pay again as well as being on a plan with a provider that you didn’t even want anyway.