Good news for free streaming in South Africa

South African residents have access to various free-to-use local streaming services, provided they have an active Internet connection.

Broadcasters like the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), eMedia, and MultiChoice offer at least some free content on their streaming services.

Afriforum — a non-governmental organisation focusing on Afrikaners’ interests — also offers a free streaming service in the country.

The availability of such services is growing, with Sentech launching a fifth free streaming service — Freevision Play — in June 2024.

Establishing prominent local streaming services in South Africa could be critical to the country’s broadcasting space, and offering free content could help get more users onto these platforms.

In its annual performance plan for 2024/25, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies said streaming services like Netflix and Spotify pose an existential threat to South African broadcasters.

“On-demand music and video online streaming services are seriously disrupting the industry globally,” it said.

South Africa’s three most prominent broadcasters — MultiChoice, SABC, and eMedia — have recently worked to enhance their digital streaming businesses in the face of declining TV viewership.

In late May 2024, data from the Market Research Foundation revealed a marked decline in TV viewership in the country while the use of streaming services has increased.

However, the growth in streaming viewership hasn’t been as steep as the decline in TV viewership.

The Market Research Foundation’s data shows that while South Africans are avid TV viewers, viewership has declined since the first quarter of 2021.

On average, 9.6 million South Africans watch more than 20 hours of TV weekly.

The team also asked interviewees if they had watched TV in the past week. In Q1 2021, 72% said they had watched TV in the past seven days.

This figure increased to 75% in the third quarter of 2021 before declining steadily to 54% in the third quarter of 2023.

Therefore, it could become critical for South African broadcasters to establish prominent local streaming services, as these trends are expected to continue.

Five free-to-use local streaming services available to South African viewers are listed in alphabetical order and described below.

---

Afriforum TV

Afriforum launched its free Afrikaans video streaming service — AfriforumTV — in April 2022.

South Africans can access the service by creating an account on the afriforumtv.co.za website using their email address and a password.

It is also available on Android and iOS smartphones.

AfriforumTV’s core offering is its Afrikaans reality TV content — which comprises motoring, hunting, travel, political, and history shows.

It also features scripted shows like De Kleine Griet.

Viewers can choose from a vast range of resolutions between 240p and 1080p.

Unlike many other free streaming services, the platform appears to be free of pre-roll and mid-roll ads.

---

DStv Stream

MultiChoice’s DStv offers a small selection of free-to-view channels on its streaming platform.

These include channels like eNCA, Al Jazeera, PBS Kids, and Channel O. A modest selection of on-demand content, primarily sports and kids’ shows, is also available.

Users must create a profile using their email or cellphone number and a password to start watching.

Once signed up, they can view the free content on DStv Stream in 360p, 576p, 720p, or 1080p.

DStv streaming is available on the web, through a mobile app for Android, Huawei, and iOS, a smart TV app for the latest TV sets, and on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Despite the content being free to watch, DStv’s streaming limit is still enforced, meaning users can only watch one stream at a time per account.

---

eVOD

eMedia launched its eVOD streaming service in August 2021, letting viewers choose from paid and free subscription tiers.

Those on the free tier can access most of the popular soaps and dubbed telenovelas from E-tv, including Scandal and Imbewu.

It also offers various eVOD Original movies and several older Hollywood titles across a range of genres.

Users must open an account using their email address or cellphone number to access eVOD content.

It offers content at two streaming qualities for free users: Data Saver and Medium. It doesn’t specify the actual resolution.

Premium subscribers can choose from Data Saver, Medium, Standard, or HD. The HD resolution is HD Ready or 720p.

Viewers can subscribe to eVOD Premium through the Android and iOS apps. The plan costs R29.99 per month.

---

Freevision Play

Sentech launched its free-to-use Freevision Play streaming in June 2024, giving South African residents access to various local TV and radio channels.

The launch has been more than ten years in the making. The state-owned signal distributor first announced its plans to launch such a platform in April 2013.

The Freevision Play service is available to all South African residents with an active Internet connection. It is compatible with smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.

Sentech noted that many South African residents face barriers to accessing quality content and critical information.

“Freevision Play addresses this challenge by leveraging broadband infrastructure to deliver free, high-quality content to all communities,” says Sentech.

It currently offers six live TV channels, including KZN TV, Cape Town TV, Soweto TV, and Faith, and catch-up content for these channels.

Users can also choose from six local radio stations.

Regarding streaming quality, the service lets customers manually choose between 240p, 360p, and 576p. However, at launch, it offered a live stream of the Presidential Inauguration at up to 1080p.

---

SABC+

The SABC launched its free streaming service — SABC+ — in November 2022.

Upon launch, it was merely a rebadged version of the TelkomONE streaming service. However, it has been relaunched twice since.

Most recently, the SABC improved the platform with several new features and enhancements, including support for Apple TV, Google TV, and LG Smart TVs.

It said support for Android media boxes will come at a later stage.

Other new features include a redesigned user interface, personalised recommendations, catch-up services, video-on-demand, and downloading for offline watching on its mobile app.

Regarding new programming, users of the new SABC+ get access to Channel Africa, which offers content in Chinyanja, Kiswahili, English, French, and Portuguese.

This is in addition to its seven live free-to-air channels.

The platform gives viewers free access to a range of content, including live SABC channels, radio broadcasts, catch-up content for SABC channels, and on-demand content for movies and series.

Regarding the streaming experience, users can manually choose between 240p, 360p, 720p, and 1080p or opt for the “Auto” option to adopt the resolution best suited to their Internet connection speed.

Concurrent streams are unlimited. However, the SABC notes that customers can have a maximum of five sub-profiles per account.