{"id":480451,"date":"2023-02-15T18:09:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=480451"},"modified":"2023-02-15T18:10:53","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:10:53","slug":"multichoice-reveals-dstv-streaming-limit-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/480451-multichoice-reveals-dstv-streaming-limit-plans.html","title":{"rendered":"MultiChoice reveals DStv streaming limit plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice Group COO Simon Camerer says that DStv\u2019s Proximity Control system is in the works, on track, and they are looking towards a mid\u20132023 release.<\/p>\n

Proximity Control is the name of a digital rights management system MultiChoice wants to deploy to manage simultaneous connections to its online streaming service.<\/p>\n

DStv started cracking down on password sharing<\/strong><\/a> on 22 March 2022, with the pay-TV platform limiting subscribers to live streaming from one device at a time.<\/p>\n

The streaming limit applies to all DStv packages, and subscribers may still watch pre-downloaded content while someone else is streaming.<\/p>\n

There was a significant backlash from DStv subscribers following the announcement, with some threatening to boycott MultiChoice.<\/p>\n

Many DStv subscribers said it limits their families from enjoying different content at the same time, which is why they purchased the product.<\/p>\n

After implementing the limit, several subscribers complained that their legitimate DStv streaming accounts stopped working on certain devices<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

DStv ultimately cut off several devices from accessing its streaming services in mid-October, including older Samsung TVs, iPhones, Android phones and TVs, Apple TVs, and some newer Hisense TVs.<\/p>\n

As compensation, MultiChoice gave affected subscribers Takealot vouchers with which to buy a DStv Streama \u2014 its media streaming box.<\/p>\n

In addition to the problems introduced on specific devices, the streaming limit also broke screen casting<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband tested screencasting, which was still broken at the time of publication. This includes Chromecast, other variants of Android casting, and Apple AirPlay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela said the streaming limit was necessary to fight piracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken a decision to limit concurrent streaming because we see how people are sharing account details and even selling passwords for DStv streaming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfair to content creators who invest a lot of money to create content.\u201d<\/p>\n

MultiChoice\u2019s decision was especially controversial because it is contrary to industry standard practice for premium-tier streaming services.<\/p>\n

Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and MultiChoice\u2019s own Showmax allow multiple simultaneous streams. Netflix only started implementing<\/strong><\/a> anti-password-sharing policies in a limited set of countries last week.<\/p>\n

However, Mawela asserts that limiting streaming to one device was working well and that they had seen an uptick in DStv streaming-only subscriptions.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice South Africa CEO Nyiko Shiburi told MyBroadband in October 2022 that they were working on security technology<\/strong><\/a> for their devices to enable multiple simultaneous streams.<\/p>\n

This suggests that MultiChoice\u2019s \u201cProximity Control\u201d may require subscribers to buy one of DStv\u2019s media boxes \u2014 like a decoder or Streama \u2014 to benefit from multiple streams within their household.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read: DStv announces price increases<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice has provided a timeline for when to expect a fix to its single-device streaming limit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":480455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[24196,85,35,475,37400,61751,84373,1873],"class_list":["post-480451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-calvo-mawela","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-nyiko-shiburi","tag-password-sharing","tag-proximity-control","tag-simon-camerer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480451"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}