Rise of DStv’s biggest South African competitor

DStv’s main broadcasting competitor in South Africa, Openview, has grown significantly, with its total number of viewers increasing by over 3 million in nine years.
This is according to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) discussion document regarding its inquiry into the South African TV market.
Openview is a free-to-air satellite television broadcaster owned by eMedia, offering users 20 channels to watch.
Launched in October 2013, the satellite television provider grew its user base from 112,715 in 2015 to 3,428,523 by the end of March 2024.
Although it is not a direct competitor to DStv as a non-subscription platform, Icasa considers Openview a service that the pay-TV operator’s customers may opt to switch to.
This becomes evident in Icasa’s analysis of barriers to entry for smaller entrants such as Openview — although eMedia’s broadcaster has roughly the same number of viewers as DStv.
Icasa said that while it would expect customers to be less likely to switch to a different broadcaster because of the costs of buying a new decoder, Openview’s exceptional growth indicates this may not be true.
The regulator also said that Openview defied another barrier to entry that it identified — brand loyalty to DStv.
“New entrants may find it difficult to break the brand loyalty barrier. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, for instance, considers brand loyalty and customer loyalty as barriers to entry,” the document noted.
The broadcaster was able to grow its user base by 262,000 in one year, or 22,000 activations per month, according to the financial results of Remgro, which has a 32.3% effective interest in eMedia Holdings, for the year ending 31 March 2024.
However, eMedia Investments’ contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings declined by 13.1% to R113 million, down from R130 million in the previous financial year.
Despite its reduced contribution to headline earnings, Remgro said the eMedia Holdings subsidiary reported satisfactory results despite continued load-shedding for a large portion of the reporting period.

DStv and Openview’s relationship has certainly been one of fierce rivalry.
Right before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, MultiChoice’s SuperSport and the SABC reached a last-minute agreement, reportedly worth R57 million, to broadcast sixteen matches live, including every Springbok game.
Part of the sub-licensing deal restricted the SABC from broadcasting the content on any third-party platforms it didn’t own, including Openview.
However, the rugby was available on all other platforms in South Africa, including StarSat and digital terrestrial television.
The state broadcaster struck a similar deal with MultiChoice for the Cricket World Cup rights later that year.
The SABC and eMedia called the restriction on Openview “anti-competitive” and “irrational”, with eMedia laying a complaint with the competition authorities and courts in South Africa.
However, MultiChoice hit back, saying eMedia wanted a free ride without trying to secure its own sports broadcasting rights or sub-licence the exclusive rights it paid top dollar for.
It argued that such broadcasting rights could drop by more than 80% when sold on a non-exclusive basis.
MultiChoice and sporting leagues in South Africa have said that exclusive broadcasting rights are crucial for the country’s sports development.
“Selling rights exclusively maximises the income to sports bodies, and without this income, sport in SA cannot be sustainable,” MultiChoice recently told MyBroadband.
MultiChoice and eMedia settled their legal disputes in September 2024, according to a statement in eMedia’s financial results released last year.
“The issues between the parties have been satisfactorily resolved by agreement, which brings to an end to the legal proceedings between MultiChoice and eMedia,” eMedia legal executive Philippa Rafferty told MyBroadband.
MultiChoice told MyBroadband that while the settlement terms are confidential, the litigation “has been settled amicably between the two parties.”