{"id":1124,"date":"2007-08-27T23:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-27T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2007-08-27T23:54:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-27T21:54:00","slug":"multichoice-making-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/1124-multichoice-making-waves.html","title":{"rendered":"Multichoice making waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multichoice has recently extended their DSTV broadband trial where a selected closed group of premium DSTV subscribers get free access to a variety of premium content on their newly formed DSTV Broadband website – hosted at http:\/\/www.dstvbroadband.co.za\/<\/a> <\/p>\n

The content currently available online includes local MNET shows like Carte Blanche, Laugh Out Loud, and Survivor SA, Supersport content like the Premier League soccer, Kyknet shows like Villa Rosa and Roer, MNET movies, Go content and much more.<\/p>\n

The episodes contain no advertisements and are served using Microsoft’s Windows Media with its accompanying digital rights management system. The shows are available online to trial users between 12 hours and 24 hours after they were first aired.<\/p>\n

The content is encoded at 2 different qualities – 300k and 700k – but Richard Fyffe, Multichoice’s general manager of new media, agrees that the low monthly usage allowances are a severe hindrance to the use of online multimedia content like DSTV’s broadband offering.<\/p>\n

Longer shows like Carte Blanche – typically around 47 minutes in length – are in the region of 240 MB in size when downloaded in the higher resolution format. This can severely dent the monthly usage allowance of a 1 GB broadband subscriber.<\/p>\n

Like many South African broadband users, Multichoice is hoping for better broadband offerings and higher usage limits to facilitate the growth of local online content. <\/p>\n

Fyffe jokingly says that he hopes that Telkom – through their newly formed Telkom Media – will not go into the IPTV space at the expense of better broadband offerings and improved penetration rates.<\/p>\n

According to Telkom Media, it is run as a completely separate business from Telkom, and Multichoice said that they are interested to see if they will get the same access as Telkom Media to the ADSL network for IPTV offerings if they ask for it. <\/p>\n

Multichoice however points out that they are currently not focusing on true IPTV, but rather on their DSTV Broadband offering and other developments like their DVBH service.<\/p>\n

Fyffe points out that Multichoice’s DVBH service has been on trial for a year already with its own networks in Gauteng and Cape Town. The service is currently used by around 2000 people who have access to the 10 – 12 channels available on the network.<\/p>\n

Multichoice is currently using a trial license for DVBH testing, but promised a very exciting product once they receive a commercial license.<\/p>\n

In a quick demonstration at the Multichoice offices in Randburg it was clear that the service was very usable with clear visuals and sound. While the service can be transferred to a traditional television Fyffe said that the resolution may not be great when moving to larger formats.<\/p>\n

With competition looming in the Pay-TV space, Multichoice is not resting on its laurels but is rather investing in new technologies and services to enhance their range of offerings to keep consumers happy. <\/p>\n

While one can expect a pricing shake up after competing operators like Telkom Media enter the fray, Multichoice remains well positioned to continue dominating the Pay-TV landscape and to hold on to their existing customer base.<\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multichoice recently extended their DSTV broadband trial, but this is not the only new offering they are planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-telecoms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}