Stan Sport, Kayo, Paramount, Optus Sport: How to get cheap …
We’ve reached the era of ‘peak streaming’, where the best content is now spread across multiple services – especially in footy season. If you’re a fan on a budget, you’ve got some tough choices to make. Kayo Sports has the rights to every NRL and AFL match.
Stan Sport has the rights to every Super Rugby Pacific game. For round ball fans, it’s a real dog’s breakfast, with Paramount+ showing every game from the men’s and women’s A-League, Socceroos, Matildas and the FA Cup; Optus Sport showing every Premier League game as well as LaLiga, women’s super league and the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup; Kayo showing Serie A and Bundesliga; and Stan Sport showing every UEFA match including the Champions League.
On top of that, inflation has hit the streaming services too: Optus Sport is no longer free, Kayo and Stan Sport have increased their prices, and rumours abound that Paramount+ could do the same soon. Here’s the latest pricing:
- Kayo Sports: from £25/month for 1 stream
- Stan Sport: from £25/month for 1 stream (includes the regular Stan streaming service, both owned by Nine)
- Optus Sport: from £24.99/month or £199/year (£6.99/month for Optus customers)
- Paramount+: from £8.99/month for 3 streams or £89.99/year
So how can you tackle footy season without getting knocked out by the cost?
Here are some savings tricks to try. CATCH THE FREE MATCHES LIVE There’s still plenty of free footy on TV but often you have to catch it live.
Because some sports sell the streaming rights separately to the TV rights, you can watch games live on free to air TV but sometimes you’ll have to pay for a catch-up broadcast.
- NRL: FREE on 9 Thursday nights, Friday nights, Sunday afternoons
- AFL: FREE on 7 Thursday nights, Friday nights, Sunday afternoons
- Rugby: FREE on Nine for Wallabies games, plus 1 Super Rugby match at 7.45pm Saturday on 9Gem and four Club Rugby matches per week
- A-League: FREE on 10 Bold at 7.45pm Saturday and 3pm Sunday, plus catch-up on 10Play
- Premier League: FREE highlights on Optus Sport
RETHINK FOXTEL If you’re paying between £59-140/month to watch sport on Foxtel, you can save anywhere up to £1380/year simply by downgrading to streaming. One benefit of this time of the year is that, with AFL and NRL starting up again, there’s a range of special offers for new sign-ups.
And there are a few handy tweaks and loopholes for existing customers who want to save too. If you’re the only sports fan in the house, you can also save up to £120/year on streaming services by downgrading from 2 streams to 1, in the case of Kayo and Stan. SHARE THE LOVE
If you’re in a share house or a family that watches the games together in the same location, make sure you’re only paying for one subscription. (Of course, many do share subscriptions in different locations too but this is counter to the terms and conditions of the streamers.) If you only use a subscription during footy season, you can always turn it off for a few months in the summer and re-activate it for the winter, saving up to about £150/year. But before you do that…
CHECK ANNUAL DISCOUNTS Check if they have a discount for paying annually – Optus Sport gives you 33 per cent off for paying annually for example, and Paramount+ gives you 15 per cent off. SAVE £120 WITH QANTAS
Qantas Frequent Flyers can get £120 off Kayo in their first year and up to 1500 frequent flyer points by signing up before 16 June.
This deal is only for new Kayo sign-ups but the examples below are also available to existing Kayo customers.
SAVE £140 WITH THIS LOOPHOLE
A viral TikTok video by two podcasters recently pointed out a loophole where signing up for a £20/month digital membership to the Western Bulldogs AFL club gets you a year’s free Kayo Basic subscription (RRP £360).
GET FOOTY WITH YOUR NBN
Telstra is offering a year’s free Kayo Basic (worth £360) to NBN customers who sign up for a new service, but bear in mind that their NBN plans are more expensive than most providers so do the maths to see if it’s worth it. Origin is also offering its NBN customers a year’s free Paramount+.
GET FOOTY WITH YOUR TELSTRA REWARDS
Telstra also offers up to £210 off a Kayo Basic account over one year for members of their Telstra Plus rewards program.
GET FOOTY WITH YOUR ELECTRICITY
Alinta Energy offers an electricity plan that includes a year’s free Kayo Basic (RRP £360). It’s not their cheapest plan but it’s certainly not £360 more than their cheapest plan for a typical home so it looks pretty good value to me.
GET TED LASSO TOO
And while we’re at it, because ‘futbol is life’, Telstra customers can also get three months free AppleTV+ right now, which should be enough to get you through the latest season of Ted Lasso and you can then cancel if you want to and it’ll cost you nothing!Joel Gibson is the author of KILL BILLS & EASY MONEY. He’s spent the last two decades hunting down money-saving tricks, hacks and loopholes and sharing them with households via his books, regular media appearances, and on TikTok, Instagram & Twitter.
Nine, the publisher of this website, is also the owner of Stan.
The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice.
The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs.
Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.
