Free to air TV: Watch shows, movies, and sports for free
Not all that long ago it provided only five channels, but today, Australian free to air TV boasts around 25 diverse TV channels from five major networks, offering viewers plenty of choice when it comes to free TV viewing. Across these channels are all kinds of free TV. There’s 24-hour news, all-night music, sport, drama series, movies, kids’ shows and more.
Your TV will tune into the five networks that make up “Freeview” – ABC TV, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten – and you’ll be ready to go with around 25 free to air channels. Now all you need is a free to air TV guide.
What’s in this Guide?
What’s on free to air TV?
The Free to Air TV guide used to only have to list five channels, but now with dozens available, it can be hard to figure out what to watch.
Luckily, it’s easy to see what’s on without a printed TV guide – your TV can pull up an on-screen program list whenever you like, but this makes searching shows for each channel and each day difficult.
CompareTV has built our very own search library for free to air enabling you to search the entire free to air TV guide by channel as well as by region (remember, Australia has many timezones so make sure you select where you are watching from).
Try our new free to air TV channel guides to get the most up to date shows, movie and sport information about what’s on and what time you can watch it:
Search our Free To Air TV Guide
Watch ABC Live
There’s plenty to watch on Australia’s own ABC, from the exciting new Aussie drama The Newsreader to comedy like the latest seasons of Rosehaven and Hard Quiz.
ABC News 24 provides around-the-clock current affair programming, News Breakfast each morning, while ABC Kids is packed with afternoon shows for the little ones, including Bluey. Check out what’s on ABC to start streaming now.
Watch SBS live
Across its five unique channels, SBS brings viewers some of the best international TV available, as well as its own local programs, live coverage of key sporting events and global news. Current highlights include the third season of War of the Worlds and the mystery drama Wayward Pines. Here’s our ‘What’s on SBS‘ highlights page to check out every show and movie you can stream instantly.
You can even watch SBS HD and a whole bunch of your favourite shows like SBS Viceland HD if you prefer.
Watch Channel 7 live
A big get for Channel 7 was its takeover of popular singing competition show The Voice, which is attracting a lot of attention to the network – and huge ratings. Seven is also the free to air home of Supercars, Australia cricket tests (including the Ashes) and of course, AFL. Channel 7 live coverage of sport in HD is a great viewing experience. Find out what’s on today with our ‘What’s on Channel 7‘ highlights page.
Powerball and Oz Lotto
Each and every week millions of Australians tune in to watch live Oz Lotto and Powerball Australia draws to see if they have won life-changing amounts of money! Oz Lotto has its live draws every Tuesday at 8.30pm AEST/9.30pm AEDT. Powerball numbers, meanwhile, often throw up the biggest jackpots, with draws taking place every Thursday at 8.30pm AEST/9.30pm AEDT.
Watch Channel 9 Live
The long-running build-a-thon series The Block is dominating the ratings for Channel 9 at the moment, along with their top-rating news and current affairs line-up, including 60 Minutes. Nine has also added Super Rugby and Wallabies rugby to a live roster that already included NRL. Looking for something to watch? Here’s what’s streaming on Channel 9.
Watch Channel 10 Live
Attracting tons of viewers with its latest season on Channel 10, Australian Survivor continues to be a hit with its move to the Aussie outback, with episodes airing on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Find out what’s latest on Channel 10 here.
Sport on free to air TV
Australian’s are spoilt for choice when it comes to sport on free to air. Due to the anti-siphoning laws free to air are given the ability to bid on sports before pay TV services. This has enabled Australian’s to watch some of their favourite sport for free.
Free TV in Australia grew up around sport, and even with live sports streaming services taking over most of the action, free to air TV still has got plenty of sport on tap without the need to pay a cent. Here’s what sport on free to air you can watch today.
What sport is on free to air TV this weekend
A huge weekend of action packed sport is scheduled on across the country. Keep up to date with everything on.
AFL
The biggest sport in the country runs from March through to September, when the Grand Final is played at the MCG. Defending champions Melbourne can expect to be pushed all the way by the likes of Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions and Geelong this year, in what should be a hugely competitive season.
Each and every week a number of live AFL games for out on free to air via Channel 7. These are often the biggest games of the weekend on Friday and Sunday. Every game from every round across the season is available to watch via Fox Footy (Kayo Sports or Foxtel).
| AFL Provider | Broadcast Guide | Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| Kayo Sports | Every match LIVE except the Grand Final which will be on replay | Yes – 7 day Free trial |
| Foxtel/Telstra | Every match LIVE except the Grand Final which will be on replay | Yes – Foxtel Go app |
| Foxtel Now | Every match LIVE except the Grand Final which will be on replay | Yes – 10 day Free trial |
| Channel 7 | A minimum of 3 live games per round, including the Grand Final | No – The live games on Seven are only available on replay using 7Plus |
NRL
The 2023 NRL season is set to get underway, with the likes of Penrith Panthers, the Rabbitohs and Melbourne Storm favourites to go all the way to the Grand Final.
Up to four games per round of the NRL season, including the Finals and the Grand Final, go out free to air in Australia via Channel 9. All the live NRL across the regular season is likewise available via Fox Sports (Kayo/Foxtel).
| NRL Provider | 2024 Regular Season | Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| Kayo Sports | Every NRL match LIVE except the Grand Final which will be on replay | Yes – 7 day free trial |
| Foxtel Now | Every NRL match LIVE except the Grand Final which will be on replay | Yes – 10 day Free trial |
| Channel Nine | Up to three live games a week including the Grand Final | Games on Nine are Simulcast on 9Now |
Free to air TV shows and movies tonight
You don’t need to pay a cent to get some solid couch time with the TV series and movie offerings on free to air TV. Whether its classic blockbuster movies, brand new drama, reality TV, documentaries or even movies from around the world, there’s plenty to discover.
You can search through the current free TV offerings below to find exactly what you’re looking for – and find out when to watch it.
Free to air TV streaming apps
With streaming apps being the way most of us watch a lot of our TV these days, the networks’ free catch-up streaming apps – available for iOS and Android smartphones as well as for most streaming devices – are essential companions to the live TV experience. All you need is a decent data or broadband connection.
Originally designed to let viewers catch up on shows they missed the previous night, these streaming services are now much more adventurous, letting viewers watch live-to-air streams of every channel, and featuring numerous shows and movies that can only be seen via their free apps (9Now, 10Play, SBS Viceland)
ABC iView
The first of the catch-up TV channel launching, the ABC iView app allows live streaming of channels like ABC News, ABC Kids and ABC TV Plus in high definition, providing far better quality than the television broadcast version.
iView also often premieres shows before they air on the network itself. For the kids, ABC offers a dedicated app that’s entirely loaded with kids’ content.
SBS On Demand
An app that’s grown bigger and bigger in recent years, SBS On Demand maintains a huge library of films of all kinds, some of which never play on its World Movies channel, along with plenty of quality TV from around the world and lots that’s unique to Australia (especially on NITV) from riveting drama to lifestyle shows with the likes of Food Safari and Jack Stein: Born to Cook. There’s also live streaming of all its channels, very handy when there’s a late-night cycling event on!
9Now
Treating their app like its own network, Nine regularly drops entire series onto 9Now without them going to air on television at all, making it well worth checking the app to see what’s new to watch each week. Of course, all Nine’s broadcast shows are here too, and you can play live streams of every channel in HD.
7Plus
Taking their app to the next level in time for the Tokyo Olympics and now the Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), 7Plus has drastically expanded both their library of shows and movies, and also added a huge amount of live streaming channels. There’s 16 permanent channels (including one entirely dedicated to the show Nashville) and multiple temporary ones covering the Paralympic Games. There’s even a dedicated racing channel.
10Play
Though it runs its own paid streaming service as Paramount+, Ten puts even more of its popular shows on TenPlay for free. Alongside ratings winners like Australian Survivor, The Bachelor and Masterchef, there’s a huge library of full seasons to watch, including fast-tracked episodes of legendary afternoon soap The Bold and the Beautiful, all 13 seasons of Masterchef and three years’ worth of Neighbours for the ultimate catch-up.
Free to air alternatives
If you’re a fan of major shows, from House of the Dragon and Big Bang Theory to Modern Family and Outlander, you may want to look into some free to air alternatives.
Enter streaming TV. Check out what’s on with the following TV streaming providers in Australia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes it is! Channel 7 has access to cover all Men’s Test matches, all Women’s Commonwealth Bank International matches, 43 out of 59 KFC Big Bash League matches, 23 rebel Women’s Big Bash League matches, as well as the Allan Border Medal and other events.
Yes – it and all the streaming services mentioned here are completely free to use, and are supported by advertising that automatically plays at ad breaks while you stream.
Because smart TVs can also run streaming apps, you’ve got two options for catching up with your favourite shows – you can watch them live as they go to air (you’ll need an antenna cable plugged into the TV) or any time you like via the free streaming apps that come pre-installed on most smart TVs. Some, like those using Android TV, let you download a huge range of other streaming apps too.
Nine these days is wholly owned by Nine Entertainment, a giant company that, as well as owning TV stations across the country, also owns multiple newspapers like The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, web sites like Domain, and streaming service Stan.
Now that TV is entirely digital, the trusty VCR won’t work to record your favourite shows. Instead, you’ll need to use a device called a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) – the most popular ones being Foxtel’s iQ boxes and Fetch TV’s Mighty box. However, thanks to the free catch-up apps being available on almost every TV and device, it’s often easier to just load up the app and watch that way.
Depending on the app, you can sometimes check out TV from another part of Australia, which can be especially useful if you want to watch more in-depth news coverage of events happening, say, in Sydney when you’re in Melbourne. Only 10play actually lets you change your location in the app (the others automatically detect your location), but iView and 9Now cover news bulletins from around the country if you want them.
You can look up the current TV program listings quickly and easily using the Freeview app or web site, which is constantly updated with what’s airing now and over the next week. But an even easier way is to press the “Guide” button on your smart TV’s remote, which will bring up an interactive program listing that lets you search for and jump right to the show you want to watch.
Supported by many newer smart TVs, this clever feature turns your TV into a truly interactive portal to streaming apps and currently airing shows, with everything controlled by the four coloured buttons on your remote. If you’re not sure how to find and run any of the apps, you can access catch-up content straight from here. On TVs that support it, you’ll see a banner appear when you change channels that lets you know which buttons to press.
Yes there is! You can find ABC News 24 on (appropriately) channel 24, which cycles through news bulletins, current affairs and other up to the minute content, 24 hours a day. Viewers in regional areas may also be able to access Sky News without the need for a Foxtel subscription.
Digital TV brought with it the advantage of being able to deliver not just television, but also audio-only services – and if you search through your TV’s program listing, you’ll find that there’s a large range of radio stations available as well, supplied by the ABC and SBS. That lets you listen to everything from Classics, Jazz and current pop music, to talk radio and news, all right there on the TV. A handy way to get some radio into your life!
What’s on free to air TV tonight?
Use this free to air TV Guide to find out what to watch on your favourite free to air channels live this week:
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