Three big video streaming services South Africans cannot use
Although a wide range of excellent video streaming services are available in South Africa, several noteworthy international platforms are unavailable locally.
The absence of some of these services has pushed some people back to illegal torrents of shows or movies, which are either available first or exclusively on these missing services.
The issue is caused by an explosion of streaming services in the past few years.
That has resulted in content once highly concentrated on Netflix or available through major broadcasters being spread out across multiple streaming platforms.
Before developing its extensive self-produced catalogue of popular originals, Netflix’s library consisted mainly of a large selection of titles from third-party providers.
For many years, the owners of this content mostly sold the streaming rights to Netflix to grow their revenues.
More recently, several media and entertainment giants have launched their own streaming services to host their content.
In many cases, these services are rolled out to only a few countries as part of a staggered launch strategy.
In others, a service may never plan to launch in certain countries as they are not deemed commercially viable.
Disney+’s delayed launch in South Africa illustrates well how this issue previously caused a resurgence in piracy. The service only landed on local shores in 2022, two years after its US debut.
Key to drawing subscribers to its library was a strong slate of Star Wars and Marvel originals streamed exclusively on Disney+ and not resold to any third-party platforms.
Many were released in the two years between its US and South African launches.
That meant many South Africans who wanted to watch series like The Mandalorian or Wandavision either had to wait for the service to roll out locally or break the law and download illegal copies of these shows.
Waiting would not have been a problem had the world still been in the golden days of television, where delays in shows coming to South Africa were common.
However, Internet access has grown substantially since that time, which would make falling victim to spoilers in unavailable content inevitable.
While it would be fair to say users should pay for all the services if they want access to all the content, South Africans don’t have that option for at least three major services.
Accessing these services by using a virtual private network could amount to copyright infringement, as they also contain some content which is licenced locally.
In addition, these services also implement additional barriers to prevent access from outside their countries of availability.
That can include having to pay for a subscription with a bank card that was issued in that country and repeatedly having to enter a one-time PIN sent to a cell number registered in that country.
Below are three of the most popular streaming services available outside South Africa.
Max (formerly HBO Max)
Perhaps the best streaming service for quality over quantity, Max features the full catalogue of sought-after HBO series and movies.
It also boasts select titles from Warners Bros., Wizarding World of Harry Potter, DC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Discovery.
Fortunately, a lot of Max’s content is already available in South Africa through Showmax, as the South African streaming service’s parent company MultiChoice has repeatedly secured content distribution deals with Warner Bros.
Having the content on a local service rather than Max may also be beneficial to South Africans.
Max’s ad-free plans start at $16.99 per month in the US, compared with $15.49 for Netflix Standard.
Considering Netflix Standard is priced at R159 per month in South Africa, a Max subscription could be substantially more expensive than Showmax’s R99 per month.
Paramount+
Paramount+’s major releases include Yellowstone and its spinoffs 1883 and 1923, Tulsa King, Yellowjackets, Landman, Halo, and Tracker.
Its catalogue also holds classics and favourites like Cheers and South Park.
Paramount+ appeared to have plans to roll out in South Africa at some point before the end of 2023.
From that year, attempting to open its website in South Africa presented customers with a page to submit their details to stay informed on a local launch.
The website specifically notes countries where it will not launch, which excludes South Africa.
In early 2024, Paramount Global signed a deal with MultiChoice to launch the service through Showmax and the DStv app.
Although some of Paramount’s major titles are available through these channels, there are certain titles — like the Frasier reboot, Lioness, Mayor of Kingstown, Tracker, and Star-Trek: Discovery — which are not in the Showmax or DStv catalogues.
Hulu
Launched in 2008, Hulu is one of the oldest video streaming services in the world.
Its parent company — Walt Disney — opted to rather offer some of its content through the Disney+ app in South Africa instead of rolling out Hulu’s app and catalogue separately.
However, as is the case with Paramount+, some shows are not available locally, including the hit show The Handmaid’s Tale.
Other Hulu content missing on Disney+ in South Africa include The Great, Fargo, and the sixth season of The Rookie.
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