TopTV versus DStv

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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ODM recently launched their TopTV offerings, taking on DStv in the local pay-TV market. This is how their main offerings compare.

On Digital Media (ODM) last week unveiled their TopTV services, offering subscribers seven different options of bundled channel packages namely Variety, Kids & Music, Entertainment & Knowledge and Ultimate Movies.

The TopTV pricing structure is as follows:

Variety – R99
Variety and Kids & Music – R159
Variety and Entertainment & Knowledge – R159
Variety, Kids & Music and Entertainment & Knowledge – R189
Variety, Kids & Music and Ultimate Movies – R219
Variety, Entertainment & Knowledge and Ultimate – R219
Variety, Kids & Music, Entertainment & Knowledge and Ultimate Movies – R249

TopTV’s set top boxes and satellite dishes will be available through various local retail stores including Game, Makro and Dion, retailing for an all-inclusive price of R499.

MultiChoice strikes back

MultiChoice announced one day after the launch of TopTV that it is increasing the overall value of many of its DStv offerings.

DStv Lite, a new addition to the MultiChoice stable, will cost R99 per month and comprises of 25 video channels, 32 radio and 10 DMX music channels.

MultiChoice further announced that it is adding additional video and audio channels to its DStv Select and DStv Compact bouquets.

DStv Select 1 will get 8 additional video channels, to have a total of 34 video channels, 32 radio and 10 DMX music channels.
DStv Select 2 will get 6 additional video channels, to have a total of 32 video channels, 32 radio and 10 DMX music channels.
DStv Compact will get 4 additional video channels, to have a total of 44 video channels, 32 radio and 10 DMX music channels.

This begs the question as to which company provides the best value proposition to subscribers.

The following tables provides an overview of what DStv and TopTV offers subscribers in the R130 to R260 price range.

DStv versus TopTV
	DSTV Select	TopTV Two	TopTV Three
Video channels	34	36	33
Audio & Radio channels	42	25	25
Interactive channels	3	0	0
Price	R148	R159	R159
TV Channels
Movies and Entertainment	M-Net Action	Top One	Top One
	Universal Channel	Zee Cinema	Zee Cinema
	TCM	Hi Nolly	Hi Nolly
	M-Net Series	MGM	MGM
	MagicWorld	RTPi	Star
	AfricaMagic +		Fox Entertainment
	Zone Reality		Fox Retro
	Soweto TV		BET
Culture and Lifestyle	FTV	FTV	FTV
	The Home Channel	Fine Living Network	Fine Living Network
			RTPi
Sport	SS Blitz	Eurosport News+	Eurosport News+
	SuperSport Action	Setanta Africa	Setanta Africa
		Fuel
Documentary	Discovery World		Top History
	National Geographic		Natura
			Discovery Science
			Discovery ID
			Top Crime
			Top Explore
Children	Nickelodeon	Top Junior
	Mindset Learn	Mindset Learn	Mindset Learn
		Jim Jam
		Baby TV
		KidsCo
		Nigezie
Music	Channel O	Kiss	Top Gospel
	MTV Base	Kerrang
	One Gospel	Q
		Magic
		Smash Hits
		C Music
		Classica
		Top Gospel
News	BBC World News	BBC World	BBC World
	CNN International	Fox News	Fox News
	Sky News	MSNBC	MSNBC
	Al Jazeera	Al Jazeera	Al Jazeera
	Parliamentary Service	France 24	France 24
	CNBC Africa	Current TV	Current TV
	Summit TV
	Weather24
Local Free to Air	SABC1	SABC1	SABC1
	SABC 2	SABC2	SABC2
	SABC 3	SABC3	SABC3
	eTV	eTV	eTV
Religion	TBN	God TV	God TV
	Rhema	Inspiration	Inspiration
	ISLAM CHANNEL

DStv Compact versus TopTV Full Bouquet
	DSTV Compact	TopTV Premium
Video channels	44	52
Audio & Radio channels	42	25
Interactive channels	3	0
Price	R232	R249
TV Channels
Movies and Entertainment	M-NET Stars	Top One
	M-Net Action	Top Movies
	Universal Channel	Top Movies 2
	TCM	Top Movies 24
	M-Net Series	Zee Cinema
	MagicWorld	Hi Nolly
	Sony Entertainment	MGM
	AfricaMagic	Fox FX
	AfricaMagic +	Silver
	VUZU	Showtime
	Zone Reality	Star
	Soweto TV	Fox Entertainment
		Fox Retro
Culture and Lifestyle	FTV	FTV
	The Home Channel	Fine Living Network
	The Style Network	RPTi
	BBC Lifestyle	BET
Sport	SS Blitz	Eurosport News+
	SuperSport 3	Fuel
	SuperSport 4	Setanta Africa
	ESPN
	TellyTrack
Documentary	Discovery World	Top Explore
	National Geographic	Top History
	Animal Planet	Natura
		Discovery Science
		Discovery ID
		Discovery Science
		Top Crime
Children	Cartoon Network	KidsCo
	Mindset Learn	Mindset Learn
		Top Junior
		Jim Jam
		Baby TV
		Nigezie
Music	Channel O	Kiss
	Trace TV	Kerrang
	One Gospel	Q
		Magic
		Smash Hits
		C Music
		Classica
Religion	TBN	God TV
	Rhema	Inspiration
	ISLAM CHANNEL
News	BBC World News	BBC World News
	CNN International	Fox News
	eNews	MSNBC
	AlJazeera	Al Jazeera
	Parliamentary Service	France 24
	CNBC Africa	Current TV
	Summit TV
	Weather24
Local Free to Air	SABC1	SABC1
	SABC 2	SABC 2
	SABC 3	SABC 3
	eTV	eTV