DStv Premium and Netflix for R499

South African households can pay less than R500 per month to access both DStv Stream Premium and Netflix, provided they use a particular payment feature launched in 2026.

Earlier in the year, MultiChoice rolled out a bill-splitting feature on its MyDStv app, allowing two users to share the cost of a single DStv subscription.

While it was already possible to informally share the cost of a subscription and use the same DStv account across different households, only one customer would be billed directly by DStv.

That customer would then need to be paid by the other users on the package for the portion of the fee they agreed to.

The official feature lets each user pay for DStv directly, and is available for both satellite and streaming-only plans across Access, Family, Compact, Compact Plus, and Premium.

All of these plans support two concurrent streams on any device, as well as one separate concurrent stream restricted to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

This is the opposite strategy Netflix adopted in 2023, when it began cracking down on password sharing by fixing each account to a single household.

As a compromise, Netflix rolled out a sub-account feature in many markets, which allowed users to load two additional households on the same subscription at a reduced monthly fee.

However, South Africa was among those markets where it did not launch the feature. The upside is that its Basic plan, which has remained at R99 per month since 2018, is still available locally.

This plan is not available in most of Netflix’s larger markets. For a more affordable option in the US, UK, and Europe, users must subscribe to Netflix Standard with Ads.

This option provides a single stream on any device with a maximum resolution of 720p, while having all the same content as the more expensive Standard and Premium plans.

While not as sharp as 1080p or 4K, many users are likely to find the resolution more than sufficient, especially on TVs smaller than 65 inches or at typical living room seating distances.

Many combinations below R500

The combination of DStv’s bill-splitting feature and the low price of Netflix Basic makes it possible to get any DStv Stream subscription with a Netflix Basic plan for under R500 per month.

That includes one option with DStv Premium, the broadcaster’s most sought-after bouquet, offering extensive coverage of live rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, motorsport, and boxing.

The cheapest DStv Stream Premium plan is available on a 12-month contract at R699 per month. However, that does not support bill-splitting.

The lowest price each household can pay for DStv Premium is R399.50, which is half the price of the regular R799 DStv Stream Premium subscription.

Considering Netflix limits Basic to one concurrent stream and imposes a single-household rule, both homes will need their own account.

Each will therefore pay R498.50 for their part of the DStv Premium subscription and the full Netflix Basic fee.

Users who want to stream Netflix at 1080p will pay R578.50 per month for its Standard subscription plus DStv Stream Premium.

Even those users who subscribe to Netflix Premium will pay less with DStv Stream Premium on a split bill than they would if they kept their DStv subscription to themselves and did not have Netflix.

The table below shows how much households will pay for various combinations of DStv Stream and Netflix plans when using the DStv split-bill feature.

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