Aussie hospital called out over 'criminal' TV fees

Patients are paying high fees to watch free-to-air television at some Australian public hospitals. (Source: Getty) (Getty Images/Maskot)

A Sydney hospital's fees for free-to-air television have shocked and angered Aussies, leaving many scratching their heads as to why there are charges for accessing a typically free service.

A frustrated Reddit user, who reported that his father was recovering from bowel cancer at Sydney's Royal Prince Albert Hospital, said the price of "free-to-air" TV at the hospital had increased over Christmas.

"The cost of free-to-air TV in Australian hospitals is criminal," the Reddit user vented in his post, which included images of the old and new rates for accessing the service.

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Rates for one-day access went from a minimum of $10 to $13.90 for patients, while patients with concession cards saw rates increase from $9 to $12.80. A one-week package went from $54 to $90.30 for regular patients, while for concession-card holders, this went from $47 to $83.30, the images showed.

"This is the cost increase of 'free-to-air' TV over the Christmas of 2022 during his stay there. Minimum-wage workers cannot afford even basic TV for family members in care," the Redditor added.

'Why does it cost anything?'

The post has earned more than 350 comments from members aghast about the idea something free could incur extra charges at a hospital.

"Wait, why does it cost anything?" someone asked in shock.

"Nothing is free, but that is why we pay our taxes, no one should be out of pocket for any extra expense. This makes me incredibly angry," another Redditor commented, while a third pointed out: "Free-to-air television is free because advertisers pay for it."

The cost of watching free-to-air TV at Sydney's RPA Hospital has increased significantly, as the new and old fees show. (Source: Reddit)

"I completely understand there being a cost associated with it. Nothing is free in this life but I don't like being extorted," the author of the original post explained. "And for free-to-air no less."

"It's more background noise than anything," he added. "Sitting in a silent hospital room with your life hanging on the line day in, day out would be exhausting. I just want him to have some semblance of normality while he is in there for the foreseeable future. But I can't even afford that for him anymore."

The Redditor's experience is not isolated. Many complaints have been made about the issue across different public hospitals in the past.

How it works

While not all public hospitals charge patients for access to free-to-air channels, the provision of televisions in these medical institutions varies depending on the facility, a previous report by News Corp Australia revealed. The report states that hospitals that have not outsourced their entertainment packages will offer free-to-air TV at no cost. For those who have, however, in-hospital entertainment will come at a high cost.

Previous reports also state that public hospitals are autonomous from state governments in NSW, Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland, thus it is up to the individual institution to provide its own service. Each medical facility enters a contract with an outsourced company – otherwise called a patient entertainment service (PES) provider - on its behalf.

The PES provider supplies and installs the infrastructure free, but collects the revenue generated from the TV service to recover costs. It also commonly includes a provision for the hospital to collect a percentage of the revenue based on overall use.

Hospital explains TV fees

Patients across Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) hospitals, including Royal Prince Albert Hospital, are offered access to paid TV services, a spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Finance Australia. The service contains free-to-air coverage and a number of Foxtel channels. The SLHD spokesperson explained that a fee for this service was charged to patients to cover the cost of renting the TV sets, which were not owned by the hospitals.

But there is a caveat. "If a patient is experiencing financial hardship, they can request access to the service through staff at a cost to the hospital," the spokesperson said. "This may also be applied to patients who are experiencing behavioural problems as a method of managing that behaviour."

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