Guide · Free TV & catch-up streaming
Free TV online: every free-to-air catch-up app in Australia.
Here's the short version. Every free-to-air channel in Australia now has its own catch-up app, and they cost nothing. Add a couple of free streaming services on top and you have a genuinely large library of shows, films and live TV without a single subscription. Below: the full list of what's free, how to get it onto your television, and the one thing about your home internet worth checking before you settle in.
Last updated 4 July 2026 · by Alien IT Solutions
The five free-to-air catch-up apps, all free
Every television network in Australia runs a free app that streams its channels live and keeps the shows afterwards. No subscription, no trial that flips to a charge. This is the heart of free TV online.
Each one carries the network you already know, plus a stack of extra channels and streaming-only content you cannot get through an old aerial. Here is the full set worth installing.
- 7plus from the Seven Network, home of its dramas, reality shows and a good slab of free-to-air sport.
- 9Now from the Nine Network, carrying its lineup live and on demand along with the news.
- 10 play from Network 10, with its own reality and entertainment catalogue.
- ABC iview, the public broadcaster, ad-free and deep in local drama, documentaries and children's programming.
- SBS On Demand, strong on world cinema, foreign-language series and documentaries you will not find elsewhere.
Install those five and you have covered the entire free-to-air landscape. Most people stop there and never miss a paid service.
The extra free services worth adding
Beyond the networks, two more free libraries earn a place on the home screen.
Tubi
A large free library of older films and past TV series, ad-supported and free to watch. It launched properly in Australia recently and quietly holds a lot of titles you would otherwise pay to rent, no account or subscription required to start.
Samsung TV Plus
Free streaming channels that run like traditional TV: you drop in and something is already playing. Built into Samsung TVs, but also available as an app on other devices. Handy for background viewing when you do not want to choose.
The pattern to notice
All of these lean on ads instead of a monthly fee. That is the trade. For most viewing it is a fair one, and you can assemble a very full week of television without handing over a card number anywhere.
Getting the apps onto your actual television
You do not need a new TV. There are four common ways in, and one of them almost certainly already sits in your living room.
- A smart TV. If your set connects to the internet, the apps are in its store. Search the name, install, sign in if asked. This is the tidiest route because everything lives in one place.
- A streaming stick or box. A small device plugged into any spare HDMI port turns an older TV into a smart one for very little money. The apps sit on it, not on the TV.
- A game console. If you own a recent PlayStation or Xbox, the catch-up apps are in its store too. No extra hardware to buy.
- A phone, tablet or laptop. Every app runs in a browser or as an app on your device. You can also cast or mirror the screen to a compatible TV.
The only genuine requirement is a working internet connection at the TV. Everything else is a matter of which screen you prefer.
Free, but you pay in a different currency
Honest answer, because this is not a sales pitch: these services are free of charge, and they are legal and local. The cost shows up in two quieter ways instead of a monthly fee.
The first is advertising. The commercial apps, meaning everyone except the ABC, run ads through their shows, the same way broadcast television always has. ABC iview stays ad-free because it is funded publicly. SBS carries limited advertising. None of it costs you money; it costs you a few minutes.
The second is your details. Most apps ask you to create a free account, which lets them remember your place in a series and, yes, learn what you watch. That is the modern bargain. It is worth knowing, not worth losing sleep over, and it never turns into a charge on your card.
Free-to-air, Tubi, or a paid subscription?
Three tiers of watching. Each one is the right answer for a different night.
A fair word for the paid services, because this is not a hit job on them. If there is one show your whole household is desperate to watch and it lives behind a subscription, paying for a month is reasonable. The trap is the slow drift: three or four subscriptions running at once, half of them unwatched. Start from the free layer, add a paid service only for a reason you can name, and cancel it the moment the reason is gone.
The internet question nobody warns you about
Streaming leans on your home internet, not your mobile data. When you watch through the TV, everything runs over your home connection. Most Australian plans are unlimited now, so for most households this is a non-issue. But if you are still on a plan with a monthly data cap, streaming is the single thing most likely to reach it, and a few big nights of viewing can get there faster than you would guess.
Watching on mobile is a different story. Stream over your phone's mobile data instead of WiFi and it comes out of your mobile allowance, which is usually much smaller. On the couch you are almost certainly on WiFi, but on the train those episodes are burning through your phone plan. Worth knowing before a long trip.
Picture quality quietly sets the pace. High-definition and 4K use far more data than standard. Most apps let you cap the quality in their settings, which is the simplest fix if you are watching on a capped plan or a slow connection and want it to stop buffering.
A word on free sport, and where it lives
One of the best-kept parts of free TV online is sport. Whenever a match is broadcast free-to-air, its live stream sits inside that network's catch-up app at no cost. The footy carried on 7plus or 9Now is a live example: no aerial, no paid service, just the app and a connection.
The reason we do not list every fixture here is that the free-sport picture shifts constantly. Which codes and which games land free-to-air changes season to season and rights deal to rights deal, and any list would be stale within months. It gets tangled quickly.
So we keep it separate. For the current state of play on the major football codes, which games are free and which app carries them, follow our dedicated footy guide rather than a snapshot that ages badly. The apps above are the doorway; that guide is the timetable.
Questions people ask
Are the free-to-air catch-up apps really free?
Yes, genuinely free. 7plus, 9Now, 10 play, ABC iview and SBS On Demand cost nothing to watch, with no subscription and no trial that flips to a charge. Some ask you to make a free account so they can remember where you left off, but the money side is free. Ads pay for the commercial ones; your taxes and licence already pay for the ABC and SBS.
Do I need a smart TV to watch these?
No. A smart TV is the neatest way, but a cheap streaming stick or box plugged into any TV with an HDMI port does the same job, as does a game console you already own. You can also just watch on a phone, tablet or laptop. The apps run on almost everything with a screen and an internet connection.
What is the difference between free-to-air catch-up and services like Tubi?
The catch-up apps are the online homes of the TV channels you already know, carrying their shows after they air plus live streams. Tubi and Samsung TV Plus are separate free services with their own libraries of older films, past series and streaming-only channels. Both kinds are free and ad-supported; together they cover a lot without a single subscription.
Will streaming free TV use a lot of my home internet data?
It uses more than browsing but less than people fear. Most Australian home internet plans are unlimited now, so it simply will not matter. If yours still has a monthly cap, streaming is the thing most likely to reach it, so check whether your plan is unlimited before you settle in for a long binge.
Can I watch live TV through these apps, or only past episodes?
Both. Every main free-to-air app streams its channels live as they broadcast, so you can watch the news or a match in real time, and it keeps the episodes afterwards for catch-up. That live stream is also how you follow a free-to-air sport broadcast online without an aerial or a paid service.
Where do I find free-to-air sport online?
Whenever a match is broadcast free-to-air, its live stream sits inside that channel's catch-up app at no cost, the footy on 7plus or 9Now for example. Which codes and games are free changes each season and can get tangled, so for the current picture on the major football codes we keep a separate guide you can follow instead.
Free TV is sorted. What about the bill behind it?
If free streaming just replaced a subscription or two, the internet bill carrying it deserves a look. Send it to us: the audit is free, and we'll tell you straight where you're overpaying.
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