DStv Mobile versus TV: On Demand
When MultiChoice announced the availability of DStv MOBILE through Vodacom’s live! service late last month it looked like it was replacing Vodacom’s previous mobile TV offering.
Vodacom had announced that Vodafone live! Mobile TV would retire in March but would be replaced with a new mobile TV service.
Within a week of MultiChoice’s announcement, On Demand Group announced that they too had partnered with Vodacom to launch TV: On Demand on Vodacom live!.
TV:On Demand is a streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) service, whereas DStv MOBILE is live streaming television to your cellphone.
The services differ in other aspects too, including fair usage policies (FUPs), price, and content offered. The table below compares the offerings of the two services.
| Feature | DStv MOBILE | TV: On Demand |
| Price | R59 per month, R19 per week | R75 per month, R20 per week |
| Content | 11 Channels, selection of video clips from M-Net, kykNet, VUZU, MK | Selected episodes from 33 series and “hundreds” of music videos. 550 hours of content promised in first year. Movies also to be added in time. |
| FUP |
|
|
| Additional data charges | None | None |
| Video | Multiple: From H.263 QCIF (176×122) to H.264 QVGA (320×240) | 15 FPS MPEG4 (120kbps/107.8kbps); or H.264(150kbps/138kbps) Resolutions |
| Audio | Not specified | Mono
Codecs |
Considering the recurring costs of the services it’s reasonable to think that consumers interested in mobile TV would select only one mobile TV service.
DStv MOBILE might be attractive to those who simply don’t wish to pay the extra R15 a month, don’t plan on watching more than the limited FUP allows, and/or want to see a live broadcast rather than access a catalogue of content.
TV: On Demand, on the other hand, might appeal to viewers who’d prefer to take a chance with a less specific FUP that might allow them to consume more content in a month than the DStv Mobile’s FUP allows.
Bradley Daniels, Head of Product Development and Portals at DStv MOBILE says that they used research to determine a fair price for the service. He added that global trends indicate that data prices are falling and that they are confident that South African data prices will also fall in due course.
Daniels said that they would be observing the uptake and usage patterns of the service very closely to determine “how the product is positioned and structured” in future. “We will do our best to always meet consumers’ needs and expectations within the restrictions of the data environment we exist in,” said Daniels.
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