MultiChoice launched DStv in October 1995, and it has been the dominant broadcaster in the country since.<\/p>\n
Despite its dominance, the availability of high-speed broadband connectivity has made online video streaming platforms \u2014 such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video \u2014 more accessible to South Africans.<\/p>\n
Several international players also made plans to launch their streaming services in South Africa, with Britbox having already launched in August 2021<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and Disney+ expected to launch in May 2022<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n DStv looked into offering Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube through its Explora decoders as a potential solution to streaming services encroaching on its territory.<\/p>\n However, it soon ran into a barrier in the form of a Competition Commission investigation<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The investigation focuses on integrating popular international streaming services into its DStv Explora decoder, which the commission is concerned may lessen competition.<\/p>\n DStv’s idea was to make itself a one-stop shop where you pay one bill and access all streaming content, including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and YouTube.<\/p>\n However, if the findings of the Competition Commission are not in favour of DStv, it will have to scrap its plans.<\/p>\n International players are rapidly occupying the content aggregation arena while the commission dithers and MultiChoice finalises its DStv Streama media box<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n In development since at least August 2020, the DStv Streama promises to coherently bring together content across all streaming services.<\/p>\n It will be up against established devices like the Apple TV and freely available software platforms like Plex.<\/p>\n Plex recently announced<\/a><\/strong> the launch of its own aggregation interface, offering users universal search across services and a unified watch list.<\/p>\n Samsung smart TV with video streaming apps: YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and HBO \u2014 Manuel Esteban \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n DStv’s decision to limit concurrent streams to one user per account<\/a><\/strong> did not go down well with its subscribers. Most international streaming services offer at least two simultaneous streams per account.<\/p>\n Streaming providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Britbox have made their services available in South Africa \u2014 and they are significantly cheaper than DStv’s Premium package.<\/p>\n For instance, Netflix’s highest-level subscription, Premium, is available to South Africans for R199 per month \u2014 76% less than DStv’s monthly R839 fee for its Premium package<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n However, it is crucial to consider that an Internet connection capable of achieving speeds of at least 3Mbps<\/a><\/strong> is required to watch Netflix, which adds to the costs.<\/p>\n A recent MyBroadband analysis<\/a><\/strong> revealed that South Africans could subscribe to Disney+ and eight other streaming services for less than DStv’s Premium subscription.<\/p>\n Pre-empting this onslaught from subscription video streaming services, MultiChoice launched Showmax<\/a><\/strong> in August 2015 \u2014 months before Netflix would launch globally.<\/p>\n However, Showmax’s content catalogue is now dwarfed by the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n Even DStv’s trump card \u2014 sports broadcasting \u2014 has come under siege.<\/p>\n Players like Amazon have begun to go after major sports streaming rights. Towards the end of March 2022, a R102-billion battle for cricket streaming rights<\/a><\/strong> between Amazon and Reliance Industries kicked off.<\/p>\n The companies are vying for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Indian Premier League \u2014 a major cricketing competition.<\/p>\n A recent MyBroadband analysis revealed that DStv’s new single device streaming limit did not align with international sports streaming services<\/a><\/strong>. These, too, offer at least two simultaneous streams per account.<\/p>\n Local streaming services such as Vodacom Video Play, e.tv’s eVod, and TelkomOne also compete with MultiChoice’s Showmax and DStv streaming products.<\/p>\n While their catalogues may not be as extensive as MultiChoice’s offerings, local streaming services and satellite broadcasters are aggressively targeting less affluent subscribers.<\/p>\n They often compete directly with DStv’s Access, Family, and Compact packages, priced at R115, R295, and R299.<\/p>\n The two subscription broadcasters competing with DStv’s lower-end products are Openview and StarSat.<\/p>\n Openview only charges an up-front installation cost of R1,499 (R549 if you already have a dish) \u2014 compared with DStv’s setup cost of R499.<\/p>\n However, Openview viewers would make up the difference in under three years<\/a><\/strong> as the broadcaster does not charge a subscription fee.<\/p>\n StarSat, on the other hand, prices its Special, Super, and Max packages at R109, R209, and R299, respectively.<\/p>\n The recent “Must carry, must pay” policy approved by Icasa<\/a><\/strong> could also contribute to higher pricing from DStv. It will now have to pay for the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) channels that it is forced to carry.<\/p>\n The recently published changes also give the SABC the right to negotiate its carriage charges for such channels.<\/p>\n A recent discussion document<\/a><\/strong>, published by Icasa, revealed that MultiChoice believes the current regulations surrounding advertising, infomercials, and programme sponsorship are outdated.<\/p>\n “MultiChoice submits that the regulations have been in force for over 20 years, and they are not based on the current environment driven by digital advertising,” MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n “They are based on a world which bears no resemblance to the current digital advertising environment.”<\/p>\n “MultiChoice further states that these restrictions on advertising, infomercials and programme sponsorship are no longer appropriate,” it added.<\/p>\n The broadcasting company is urging Icasa to review the regulations.<\/p>\n MultiChoice also explained how the Covid-19 pandemic had aggravated increasing pressure on the broadcasting industry in South Africa.<\/p>\n “MultiChoice submits that the scourge of COVID 19 pandemic has exacerbated an increasing pressure on the audience fragmentation, competition with unregulated on-demand services, loss of advertising revenue to online advertisers and tough economic and operating conditions,” it said.<\/p>\n The company said that it believes the current regulations restrict a broadcaster’s ability to adapt easily, adding that future amendments to the rules should ease the restrictions on broadcasters.<\/p>\n DStv is under pressure from international streaming services, local broadcasters, regulatory authorities, and customers. MultiChoice’s response could determine how future DStv products look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":440410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[12857,85,35,18090,475,2054,361],"class_list":["post-440336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-disney","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-sabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440336"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440614,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440336\/revisions\/440614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Apple-TV-interface-YouTube-Amazon-Netflix-HBO.jpg\")
<\/a>Local competition<\/h3>\n
Advertising regulations<\/h3>\n
\nNow read: Openview launching new channel<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"