About Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Lifestyle (formerly The LifeStyle Channel) is Foxtel's flagship lifestyle channel: the Australian pay television service broadcasting non-fiction programming about food and wine, home and garden, real estate, travel, leisure and real-life drama. Launched on 1 September 1997 by XYZnetworks, it is one of Australia's longest-running specialist channels — and, in the week of 24 September 2023, the most-watched channel on the entire Foxtel platform, ahead of every sports channel. Owned and operated by Foxtel, it broadcasts on Foxtel channel 106 in high definition (with the Lifestyle+2 timeshift), streaming on Foxtel Go and Binge. The channel is the home of Australian lifestyle television: Selling Houses Australia, Grand Designs Australia, Gogglebox Australia, The Great Australian Bake Off — the shows that define how Australia lives. The Australian dream, televised nightly — and in 2023, the biggest thing on pay television. Note: a standalone LifeStyle streaming service launched in 2024 under Foxtel's Hubbl division was retired in February 2026, with most content moving to Binge.

Overview

LifeStyle is an Australian pay-TV channel currently owned and operated by Foxtel. The channel was launched by XYZnetworks on 1 September 1997 as The LifeStyle Channel, and primarily broadcasts non-fiction content covering contemporary lifestyle interests including food and wine, home and garden, real estate, shopping, travel, leisure, and real life drama. On 1 March 2011, an HD simulcast launched on Austar and Foxtel on channel 216; on 19 September 2016, all LifeStyle channels refreshed their look with new unified logos, with a second brand refresh in November 2019. The channel broadcasts in 576i standard definition and 1080i high definition, with the Lifestyle+2 timeshift service. Foxtel operates sister channels under the LifeStyle group: Lifestyle FOOD (launched 14 March 2004), dedicated to food, drink and restaurant culture; LifeStyle HOME (launched 1 March 2010, replacing the HOW TO Channel), dedicated to home and garden improvement; and formerly LifeStyle YOU (launched 11 November 2009, closed 11 October 2017), focused on relationships, health and wellness — its local versions of programs such as Wife Swap, Embarrassing Bodies and Eat Yourself Sexy moving to the main LifeStyle channel and Fox Arena on closure. The flagship and its siblings: the complete lifestyle offering, from the kitchen to the garden to the auction.

History

The LifeStyle Channel launched on 1 September 1997 — one of four new channels debuting on Australian pay television that month, alongside the Ovation Channel, the Odyssey Channel and Movie Extra. It was launched by XYZnetworks, the Foxtel/Austar joint venture, into a market that had never seen a dedicated lifestyle channel. The proposition was simple: television about how Australians live — their homes, their gardens, their food, their holidays. In a country obsessed with property, renovation and the good life, it was an idea whose time had come — and it has never left. Nearly three decades later, it's the most-watched channel on the platform it helped build.

The channel grew into the flagship of Foxtel's lifestyle offering. On 14 March 2004 came the first spin-off: Lifestyle FOOD, a network dedicated to food, drink and restaurant culture — the foodies' channel. On 11 November 2009, LifeStyle YOU launched alongside twelve other channels as part of Foxtel's "Next Generation" service — focused on inspirational content, relationships and women's health and wellness. On 1 March 2010, LifeStyle HOME launched as a replacement for the HOW TO Channel, dedicated to home and garden improvement, investment and renovation — the renovators' channel. On 1 March 2011, the HD simulcast arrived on channel 216. The LifeStyle family was complete: food, home, you — and the flagship. Four channels, one promise: the good life, on television — the most-watched promise on the platform.

LifeStyle YOU closed on 11 October 2017, with most programming moving to the main LifeStyle channel and Fox Arena — the family contracting as viewing habits shifted. The brand refreshes of September 2016 and November 2019 unified the LifeStyle family under a common look — one brand, three channels, one promise. In 2024, a LifeStyle branded streaming service launched under Foxtel's Hubbl division, independent of Foxtel's other video-on-demand services; it was retired in February 2026, with most content moving to Binge — the lifestyle content folding into Foxtel's general entertainment streamer. The standalone app was a brief experiment; the channels endure — the flagship strongest of all, the most-watched channel on Foxtel.

Programming and Content

Lifestyle's programming is non-fiction lifestyle: food and wine, home and garden, real estate, shopping, travel, leisure and real-life drama. The channel's local originals are the backbone of Australian lifestyle television: Selling Houses Australia (which celebrated its 100th episode milestone — a decade of property transformations), Grand Designs Australia (the ambitious builds, the budget blowouts, the reveals), Gogglebox Australia — the Foxtel platform's #1 show overall, the show about watching television that became television's biggest show — The Great Australian Bake Off, Come Dine with Me Australia, Paddock to Plate, River Cottage Australia, Planet Cake, Great BBQ Challenge, Deadline Design with Shaynna Blaze, Tiny House Australia, I Own Australia's Best Home and Love It or List It Australia. Celebrating its 20th year in 2016, the brand recommitted to launching a new Australian series every month across its channels — local content as the differentiator, the Australian stories the international channels couldn't tell. Lifestyle FOOD hosts the food slate — Maggie Beer, Matt Moran, Donna Hay and their successors; LifeStyle HOME the renovation and property shows. It is television about the Australian dream: the house, the garden, the table — and the people who love them. No other channel on Australian television is so completely, unapologetically about the good life — and no other non-sport channel draws its audience.

Coverage and Audience

Lifestyle broadcasts nationally on Foxtel channel 106 (and Foxtel Go streaming, plus Binge), in standard and high definition, with the Lifestyle+2 timeshift. Its audience is lifestyle Australia: the renovators, the food lovers, the property watchers, the Gogglebox devotees — the viewers who plan their week around the new Bake Off, who have opinions about other people's kitchens. In the week of 24 September 2023, Lifestyle was the most-watched channel on the entire Foxtel platform — ahead of Fox Footy — a remarkable position for a non-sport channel, and a testament to the power of the Australian dream on television. The audience is substantially female and family-skewing: the viewers who plan their week around the new Bake Off — and who made a channel about houses and cakes the biggest thing on pay television. Sport may dominate the conversation; lifestyle wins the ratings.

Ownership

Lifestyle is owned and operated by Foxtel. Foxtel has been owned by DAZN since 2025. From XYZnetworks' launch in 1997 to Foxtel's flagship lifestyle brand: the channel has been the constant in Australian lifestyle television for nearly three decades — the home of the Australian dream, whoever owns the platform. The name on the channel has changed — The LifeStyle Channel to LifeStyle to Lifestyle — but the promise hasn't: the good life, on television, every night.

Digital Presence

Lifestyle streams on Foxtel Go and Binge (binge.com.au); a standalone LifeStyle streaming app ran from 2024 to February 2026. The channel's website is lifestyle.com.au (per Wikipedia). Lifestyle: how Australia lives — on Foxtel 106, since 1 September 1997. The Australian dream, on television — the house, the garden, the table, the cake. Nearly thirty years of the good life — and in 2023, the most-watched channel on the platform.