On Digital Media taking its time

[Quintus26]

I'm very angry to continue to pay DSTV prices to watch utter rubbish except for the odd few shows here or there. On Digital Media has promised that the viewer will be able to choose their own channels but told us they are coming in October? Their site has been lying out of service for most of the year Their satellite has been launched and they are fully staffed which begs the question, what the hell are they waiting for? It's time to reveal what programming will be available so we can see if they are remotely going to be a competitor towards DSTV. Its time that they launch their campaigns so they can get public interest! October was said to be the release date and we have not seen much action yet. This is annoying because I want to stop paying DSTV charges and start paying less for better viewing, or so they promised.

 

[Vegeta]

I don't care if they only offer SABC & eTV. I will get whatever they offer as long as i'm not giving my money to Multichoice.

 

[rorz0r]

Why so keen? They will rip you off just as much. That's like waiting for Cell C or Virgin mobile...

 

[FrancTheTank]

Why so keen? They will rip you off just as much. That's like waiting for Cell C or Virgin mobile...

So true!
Why wait for someone with a non-functioning website, poor advertising and probably poor service, its like waiting for Neotel!

 

[demon angel]

In my opinion, anything new would be a breath of fresh air.
Im so tired of the routine of DSTV's channels.
Sometimes i wish somebody could hit me on the head so hard that i got amnesia.
Its that bad!
Did you see the ad on DSTV with them glorifying and defending themselves with how the repeats are a natural occurrence of pay tv.....
LOOP NINJA WARRIOR ONE MORE TIME!
I DARE YOU MULTICHOICE!

 

[GreGorGy]

I am told, time and again, that DSTV's sports offering - SuperSport- is among the best in the world. To be honest here, I don't give a damn about any sport other than Rugby. The rest is rubbish. And SS broadcasts the matches. Is broadcasting a rugby match such a difficult thing that I need to fear the results I may get from a competitor? Okay, I understand that SS may have the sole rights here in South Africa but can someone who has actually travelled extensively and experienced other dedicated sports services tell me: Is SS really that good?

I tell you, I will bail from SS the second a decent competitor joins the fray. A season ticket at Loftus costs less than half a year's subscription for S14 and CC and let's face it, the stadium is better...

Everything else on DSTV is rubbish. My wife likes the crime channel but that's about it. My kids watch any crap and boy, does DSTV serve that in piles.

Role on the competitor - any competitor...

 

[Quintus26]

DSTV tells us that they repeat programming to schedule our viewing! It's rubbish. They can repeat something once and we can schedule to watch it then if we missed it, not replay seasons four times over. We have been holding our pee in for any competitor to arrive to relieve us of our pain and it's time we see some results. Any competiton is welcomed and I hope to God it outsells DSTV and makes repeats something of the past.

 

[ponder]

To be honest here, I don't give a damn about any sport other than Rugby. The rest is rubbish. And SS broadcasts the matches. Is broadcasting a rugby match such a difficult thing that I need to fear the results I may get from a competitor? Okay, I understand that SS may have the sole rights here in South Africa but can someone who has actually travelled extensively and experienced other dedicated sports services tell me: Is SS really that good?

I tell you, I will bail from SS the second a decent competitor joins the fray. A season ticket at Loftus costs less than half a year's subscription for S14 and CC and let's face it, the stadium is better...

I find it much more enjoyable to go watch the rugby at a local pub with the mates than at home. You have atmosphere & beer to go with it

 

[zeb]

DSTV tells us that they repeat programming to schedule our viewing! It's rubbish. They can repeat something once and we can schedule to watch it then if we missed it, not replay seasons four times over. We have been holding our pee in for any competitor to arrive to relieve us of our pain and it's time we see some results. Any competiton is welcomed and I hope to God it outsells DSTV and makes repeats something of the past.

Unfortunately repeats are the norm all over the world. There just aren't enough shows around to broadcast everything just once or twice. If you want 10 channels that start at 17h00 and end at 02h00 then it's possible, but otherwise you'll have to live with it.

 

[Quantum Theory]

I give these eager potential ODM clients and Multichoice haters a week (when it eventually starts)... and they will be posting complaint threads about the ODM service and content.

 

[ipodmusicman]

I wish that with every interview that is done with Multichoice on radio that the point of re-runs being the norm worldwide, as zeb had pointed out, is stressed more and more to angry callers. I am not defending MC, but what many people in SA don't realise is that we are not the only country in the world doing this.

If you think it is bad here, go to the USA. I swear on your life you will go insane within the first week of watching US TV.

Although M-Net/M-Net Action/M-Net Series broadcast many shows much later than in the US, at least we are not getting re-runs of current shows during primetime! Imagine watching a new episode of Fringe the one week and watching a re-run the following two weeks and then a new episode the week thereafter. I would go insane! Many of us who download some of our content have to wait a week or two weeks between some new episodes! Imagine if that happend here on primetime TV. People would riot!

Please, for those of you who complain time and time again regarding re-runs to please do some research and see what it is like in other parts of the world and then make that comparison, you'll find that we are not that worse off than anybody else worldwide.

Regarding ODM, was Neotel a breath of fresh air and the hope of lower telecoms costs when they launched? Not at all! We have not seen a major change at all. So, don't get your hopes up high that ODM is going to deliver an offering that would make DSTV subscribers switch by the thousands.

One thing that ODM is not going have, unless they pull a rabbit out of a hat, which is a huge drawcard for DSTV is sport. It is just such a pity that SuperSport isn't an independent company from Multichoice otherwise ODM and Super5 Media could of brought channels from SuperSport just like ESPN in the US.

 

[rorz0r]

There's only so many shows out there... ie. Most of the shows will be the same. Most of us already probably download US series and basically the better ones are shown on SA tv at some point. So do you think that there will magically be better content available if there's another broadcaster?

 

[Quintus26]

For those of us who do download our content over the internet and get way before South Africa does we do minimize re-runs and other things. But hopefully ODM brings us more current up to date shows. The Ellen Degenneres show is broadcast 3 times a day and is still in April 2009 timeline. If ODM can bring shows as current as a week such as the David Letterman show on SET. The thing ODM has running for it is that the viewers will be able to pick and choose which channels they want which is a thing that DSTV doesn't and that's why we want to see what they have to offer. We are not saying its definitely going to be a wonderful alternative to DSTV but its giving us hope that there might be a better and cheaper alternative. I doubt with 2010 approaching they are going to spend alot of money launching satellites and staffing people to bring us something that will not be a worthy competitor.

Re-runs are a pain. We know it is inevitable, that's why half of us download our content so we can get it fresh from the US, but just imagine if we didn't have to anymore. Just imagine if ODM brought us a week delayed HIMYM or Fringe or Heroes, people would go over to ODM. I know its a long shot but its at least something to hope on while we're still paying through our noses to watch channels we don't want. Seriously tell me if any of you watch MTV Base? If ODM can show a glimmer of promise then I'm on the bandwagon to see what's in store. Yes you'll get your naysayers and I might become one of them if ODM doesn't pull through on what people are hoping for, but until then we at least can hope that they are a competitor to DSTV.

 

[Quantum Theory]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it will take a long time for them to become worthy competitors. Multichoice was running for years before it started making a profit, and they were the only satellite broadcaster. Now tell me, where is ODM going to get funds to buy up to date prime time shows?

 

[Keeper]

usa might repeat a lot of shows but that's because they have hundreds of channels.

DStv actually has a tiny amount of channels if you think about it - now subtract the sport and news channels, and music channels. (because it's ok to loop music videos, news is live anyway, and there is always sport somewhere in the world)

so now there are a few movie channels, series channels, and general entertainment channels. there are maybe 20 proper entertainment channels now you tell me they have to loop the stuff as well?

If people only knew of the amount of shows us downloaders are able to watch! there are hundreds of shows!

 

[Quantum Theory]

I just want to add that, size of subscriber base is a big factor when it comes to quality of content. MC has a reasonably small subscriber base, when compared to similar services in first world countries. ODM will have an even smaller one.

 

[Quantum Theory]

This is what happens to companies that splash out on content before they have a solid subscriber base:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...eague-broadcaster-GTV-enters-liquidation.html

ODM will have to be very careful, or else there will be loads of South Africans with paperweight ODM decoders...

 

[InsomniaRSA]

The whole model of broadcast television is the biggest underlying problem here IMHO.
On-demand is the way to go - otherwise the p2p scene wouldn't be so popular: watch what you want, when you want...

 

[dudleygb]

The whole model of broadcast television is the biggest underlying problem here IMHO.
On-demand is the way to go - otherwise the p2p scene wouldn't be so popular: watch what you want, when you want...

+10000000000

so until then, p2p, usenet....

 

[demon angel]

ODM will be competitive out of the box with its pay for the channels you wanna watch policy.
I bet all of a sudden DSTV will offer something similar.
Competition in this area would be beneficial to all so we should cross our fingers that they actually launch.
BTW, in USA or Europe do they also run an entire series from start to finish 5[going on 6] times in a row on various channels?