Foxtel has launched a new none HD streaming service in an effort to lock consumers in to what has been described as the most expensive pay TV service in the world.

The new Foxtel Play service is set to be
launched today, it delivers TV programs over the Internet as opposed to cable
or via satellite. The service which costs up to $50 a month does not allow
users to record programs, it also sucks up bandwidth every time a program is
watched.

Users who subscribe to the Foxtel Play
service can change the packages they watch on a monthly basis.

A Foxtel spokesman said signing up and
getting Foxtel Play working on a device takes about seven minutes.

The move to try and attract consumers to
the Foxtel offering is being rolled out at a time when the News Corp, Telstra
joint venture struggles to attract consumers to the network which for most
customers costs over $100 a month.

Foxtel executive director of product Jim
Rudder said Foxtel Play was not a replacement for regular Foxtel services, but
would suit customers who could not receive Foxtel because of infrastructure
limitations.

Users who sign up to Foxtel Play will also
get access to Foxtel Go, which delivers content to a mobile device such as a
smartphone or tablet it also works on an Xbox or Samsung Smart TV.

Foxtel Play is unmetered for
Telstra-BigPond clients. Other users will be hit for increased broadband use
with a 2 hour session per day sucking up a minimum of 55GB of data per month.

 Download rates range from 500 to 1300 megabits
per hour and minimum bandwidth usage would be 3.0 megabits per second. It said
while video quality was not high-definition it had been optimised for quality
viewing.

Foxtel Play costs $25 for a basic package;
you choose one of four streams: entertainment, drama, documentary and kids.
Each stream has five or six channels. Two streams costs $35, three costs $45
and all four $50 a month.