In May this year On Digital Media (ODM) brought competition to the local pay-TV market when it launched its TopTV service. <\/p>\n
TopTV is offering consumers a selection of seven different bouquets, priced from R99 to R249 per month.<\/p>\n
MultiChoice responded to TopTV’s pricing even before the company’s services hit the shelves. The company launched its R99 DStv Lite bouquet on Friday 30 April, one day before TopTV’s official launch.<\/p>\n
Since then both MultiChoice and ODM have been fighting hard to win favour with consumers and gain market share, and the latest battle seems to be reducing the barrier-of-entry and get their decoders into consumers’ houses.<\/p>\n
Both TopTV and DStv have significantly reduced the price of its entry level decoder-dish-installation bundles.<\/p>\n
Just a few months ago a standard entry level DStv decoder was priced at R499 per month, but the incumbent pay-TV operator’s value proposition has increased significantly since the launch of TopTV.<\/p>\n
MultiChoice launched its ‘Fully Installed’ package – which included both a DStv decoder and installation at one point – for R649 shortly after TopTV entered the market. Consumers can however get this bundled offering for as low as R500 at Hi-Fi Corporation.<\/p>\n
Despite the lower prices and better value propositions from DStv, TopTV is still leading the way in terms of pricing.<\/p>\n
Top TV has recently slashed the price of its once-off ‘dish, decoder & installation’ cost from the ‘launch special’ price of R499 to R299. <\/p>\n
This price is available in most retail stores, and Game is, for example, selling the TopTV bundle for R298 while House and Home has slashed the price to R279.<\/p>\n