{"id":482389,"date":"2023-03-05T17:59:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T15:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=482389"},"modified":"2023-03-05T18:01:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T16:01:11","slug":"why-dstvs-one-device-streaming-limit-is-so-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/482389-why-dstvs-one-device-streaming-limit-is-so-bad.html","title":{"rendered":"Why DStv’s one-device streaming limit is so bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

DStv’s one-device streaming is particularly bad compared to the simultaneous stream restrictions of rival video streaming services, a comparison by MyBroadband shows.<\/p>\n

South Africa’s largest pay-TV broadcaster MultiChoice implemented a single-stream concurrent cap on DStv accounts around a year ago.<\/p>\n

It argued that this was necessary to combat password sharing and password selling but received heavy backlash for the decision.<\/p>\n

However, numerous subscribers have complained about the measure’s impact when using the service legitimately.<\/p>\n

Since the strict limit was imposed, streaming live DStv channels on two screens has been impossible.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster has since said it is working on addressing this issue through a system dubbed “Proximity Control”.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice Group chief operating officer Simon Camerer recently said<\/strong><\/a> it planned to roll out the system by mid-2023.<\/p>\n

While it’s unclear exactly how it would work, MultiChoice South Africa chief executive officer Nyiko Shiburi previously said <\/strong><\/a>they would be able to detect whether streams are taking place in the same location as one of the primary accountholder’s devices.<\/p>\n

It is still possible to watch live DStv content with one account on more than one screen \u2014 provided at least one of the viewing environments uses satellite broadcasting on a decoder.<\/p>\n

But DStv’s streaming limit crackdown has significantly undermined the value proposition of the DStv streaming-only packages, which takes the decoder out of the picture altogether.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

DStv streaming-only packages<\/p><\/div>\n

We compared the DStv streaming-only packages’ concurrent screen limit with other streaming services.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice’s one-device limit looked terrible when pitted against the approaches of major global streaming services and local rivals.<\/p>\n

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Britbox, and even MultiChoice’s own Showmax streaming service supported multiple simultaneous streams on their standard packages.<\/p>\n

These range from two to six concurrent streams per account.<\/p>\n

To compare DStv’s streaming-only packages’ concurrent stream feature with its rivals, we divided monthly subscription prices by the number of simultaneous streams.<\/p>\n

Naturally, all the DStv packages’ price per stream numbers were equivalent to their subscription costs.<\/p>\n

We found that among the general video streaming services, the Apple TV+ subscription offered the best value for concurrent streams, at a price of R20.83 per stream compared to DStv Premium’s R699 per stream.<\/p>\n

However, comparing Apple TV+ to DStv Premium might not be fair, as Apple TV+ does not offer the amount of content available on DStv Premium.<\/p>\n

However, Apple TV+’s price per stream was also less than DStv’s most affordable package \u2014 EasyView \u2014 which primarily comprises free-to-air channels.<\/p>\n

In addition, you can subscribe to Netflix Standard, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Britbox for around R18 less than DStv Premium streaming-only and have at least two concurrent streams on each of those services.<\/p>\n

The table below compares the price per stream of DStv’s streaming-only packages with those of prominent local and international video streaming services available in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Concurrent stream limit comparison<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Service<\/strong><\/td>\nMaximum concurrent streams<\/strong><\/td>\nMonthly price<\/strong><\/td>\nPrice per stream<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Crunchyroll Mega Fan Plan<\/td>\n4<\/td>\nR49.00<\/td>\nR12.25<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
eVOD<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nR29.99<\/td>\nR15.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apple TV+<\/td>\n6<\/td>\nR124.99<\/td>\nR20.83<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SABC+<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nR49.00<\/td>\nR24.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Britbox<\/td>\n4<\/td>\nR99.99<\/td>\nR24.75<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amazon Prime Video<\/td>\n3<\/td>\nR79.00<\/td>\nR26.33<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> EasyView streaming-only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR29.00<\/td>\nR29.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Disney+<\/td>\n4<\/td>\nR119.00<\/td>\nR29.75<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Crunchyroll Fan Plan<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR39.00<\/td>\nR39.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Showmax Mobile<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR39.00<\/td>\nR39.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Netflix Mobile<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR49.00<\/td>\nR49.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Showmax<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nR99.00<\/td>\nR49.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Netflix Premium<\/td>\n4<\/td>\nR199.00<\/td>\nR49.75<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DAZN<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nR149.99<\/td>\nR75.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Netflix Standard<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nR159.00<\/td>\nR79.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
F1 TV Pro<\/td>\n1 (main race)<\/td>\n$4.99 (R90.60)<\/td>\nR90.60<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Netflix Basic<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR99.00<\/td>\nR99.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> Access streaming-only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR99.00<\/td>\nR99.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> Family streaming only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR269.00<\/td>\nR269.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> Compact streaming-only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR369.00<\/td>\nR369.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> Compact Plus streaming-only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR469.00<\/td>\nR469.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv<\/strong> Premium streaming-only<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nR699.00<\/td>\nR699.00<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Now read: DStv-owner MultiChoice announces massive streaming video deal<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice’s one-device limit looked dismal when pitted against the approaches of major global and local streaming rivals. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":462487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[39088,2638,12857,85,35,475,2054,61751,32140,1873,62312],"class_list":["post-482389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-apple-tv","tag-disney","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-password-sharing","tag-showmax","tag-simon-camerer","tag-video-streaming-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482389"}],"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\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482529,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482389\/revisions\/482529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}