YouTube sports streaming shows DStv how it’s done
YouTube has implemented a concurrent stream policy for its National Football League (NFL) Sunday Ticket package that will be the envy of eager sports fans on DStv.
The popular video streaming site initially planned to allow only two simultaneous streams on the optional add-on package for its paid-for subscription service YouTube TV.
However, following user feedback, it increased this to unlimited streams for devices connected at a home location and two additional streams for users away from home.
The latter limit likely forms part of YouTube’s measures to limit password sharing.
YouTube uses information such as network metrics and the user’s set home location to determine the home area.
The NFL Sunday Ticket is the only way for residential users in the US to access live streams of all out-of-market NFL games.
Google charges YouTube TV subscribers an annual fee of $249 (R4,900) for the NFL Sunday Ticket, working out to $20.75 (R408.31) per month.
Making a mockery of DStv’s approach
YouTube’s approach is the polar opposite of what DStv implemented about a year ago.
In what it labelled as an effort to combat piracy and password sharing, MultiChoice controversially started limiting concurrent streams to just one in March 2022.
The change was met with massive backlash and numerous customers threatening cancellation, but DStv stuck by its guns and has continued implementing the policy for over a year.
The streaming limit is particularly problematic compared to other popular video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, all of which allow numerous concurrent streams at any given time.
In addition to the harsh streaming limit, the policy has completely broken casting from a smartphone to a TV via the DStv app.
Attempts to do so will see DStv’s system detect the smartphone and TV’s identical stream as two separate instances.
The policy is also considered flawed because it disallows a paying household from streaming DStv channels or on-demand content on multiple devices in the same home.
DStv promised it was working on a Proximity Control system that would enable more than one device to stream simultaneously when within proximity of a DStv device — presumably an Explroa decoder or Streama box.
However, unlike YouTube — DStv does not appear to be planning to allow any additional streams outside the house.
In its latest update on the Proximity Control feature in February 2023, MultiChoice Group COO Simon Camerer said the system was planned for rollout in mid-2023.
Loading ...