Foxtel has raised prices for people wanting to stream Game of Thrones or some of the biggest sporting events in Australia at the same time as it has been working to have the biggest piracy websites blocked in Australia.



Australia routinely tops the list of countries downloading the show over torrent applications. The most common reason people cited was the high cost of subscribing to pay TV channel Foxtel.

Last year, ahead of Game of Thrones' penultimate season, people could watch the show on a Foxtel streaming service for $15 per month, which was cheaper than it had previously been. There were no lock-in contracts normally associated with cable TV services.

Now, however, the company has upped the price of its most basic package, which includes the Game of Thrones channel, to $25 per month.

If you want to watch sporting events – many of which Foxtel has locked up as exclusives not available on free-to-air – it will cost you $54 per month, minimum, as a $29 top-up to one of the basic packs.

Foxtel has justified the changes by stating it is making it less confusing, as now people only have one basic package when they want to subscribe, rather than two options, and then can buy additional packs on top.

If you want every Foxtel channel it's $104 per month.

The new pricing model is just for people who haven't already subscribed, but if you cancelled your subscription after the last season of Game of Thrones and were planning on going back, it will cost you more.



People on Foxtel's community forum aren't too pleased about it.

"Please, for the love of jeebus put us out of our misery and stop buying streaming rights to anything," one commenter said.

"The new pricing is appalling," another said.

"Foxtel seem to be forgetting one important thing, particularly in the modern internet era – global competition," another commenter said. "Price gouging Australian customers by utilising exclusives, won't cut the mustard any longer."