{"id":612985,"date":"2025-10-06T09:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=612985"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:08:11","slug":"dstv-beating-netflix-and-disney-with-this-one-thing-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/612985-dstv-beating-netflix-and-disney-with-this-one-thing-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv beating Netflix and Disney+ with this one thing in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While the prices of most global video streaming services in South Africa have increased substantially over the past five years, DStv’s streaming packages are cheaper or priced roughly the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africans have regularly criticised MultiChoice for increasing the prices of its satellite TV products. However, even its adjustments to those products have been well below inflation over the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to its streaming-only plans, there are instances where the prices have remained the same or come down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice launched its standalone streaming plans in 2020. The products were initially priced identically to the DStv satellite offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they worked without a satellite dish or decoder, the plans supported fewer simultaneous viewing environments. At the same time, a DStv satellite plan also supported streaming on DStv Now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When MultiChoice rebranded its DStv Now service to DStv Stream in 2023, it also reduced prices across most of the streaming-only packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At R799 per month, the top-end DStv Stream Premium plan was over R100 more affordable than the DStv Premium satellite plan. That price has remained in place for more than two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, the company launched 12-month contracts for streaming-only plans with even lower prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included the DStv Stream Premium package at R699 per month \u2014 the same price as a DStv Premium satellite package in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 2025, its higher-end DStv Stream packages also got a major upgrade \u2014 an increase to two concurrent streams on any device, in addition to the mobile stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That change has significantly improved DStv Stream’s value proposition, adding to its impressive live sports selection, which remains unmatched in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice’s on-demand video streaming service Showmax has also remained R99 per month in the past five years, despite relaunching with improved features in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Showmax Mobile plan’s price has increased by just R1 since it launched in 2019, after dropping down to as low as R39 in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy ride with global players<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apart from Amazon Prime Video, which has seen a slight decrease in pricing due to a change from dollar to rand-based fees, global streaming services have increased prices on most of their plans in South Africa over the last five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix has made two price adjustments over the last five years. Its Standard plan increased from R139 to R179 per month, 29% higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At R229 per month, the Premium package is 36% more expensive than its R169 price tag in 2020. The Mobile plan, launched in 2021, has also increased by R10 or roughly 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Netflix Basic option is the only product that has retained its original rand-based pricing of R99, which has been available since 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disney+ has increased its prices every year since launching in 2022. The service was originally priced at R119 per month, increased to R139 in 2023, and bumped to R159 in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains to be seen whether another price hike is on the cards before the end of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple TV+ has implemented only one price hike since 2020, but it was substantial. The R40 price adjustment in 2022 resulted in a 48% increase over its original price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below compares the changes in pricing of popular video streaming services in South Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product<\/th>2020<\/th>2025<\/th>Total change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Amazon Prime Video<\/td>$5.99 (R80-R85)<\/td>R79<\/td>-7%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Premium<\/td>R819<\/td>R799<\/td>-3%<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Amazon Prime Video Mobile<\/td>R29<\/td>R29<\/td>None<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Disney+ Mobile<\/td>R49 (launched in 2023)<\/td>R49<\/td>None<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Basic<\/td>R99<\/td>R99<\/td>None<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Showmax<\/td>R99<\/td>R99<\/td>None<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Compact<\/td>R399<\/td>R399<\/td>None<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Showmax Mobile<\/td>R49<\/td>R50<\/td>+2%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Compact Plus<\/td>R529<\/td>R549<\/td>+4%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Family<\/td>R279<\/td>R299<\/td>+7%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
YouTube Premium Individual<\/td>R71.99<\/td>R81.99<\/td>+14%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Disney+<\/td>R119
(launched in 2022)<\/td>		R159<\/td>+33%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Mobile<\/td>R49 (launched in 2021)<\/td>R59<\/td>+20%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Standard <\/td>R139<\/td>R179<\/td>+29%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Premium<\/td>R169<\/td>R229<\/td>+36%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Apple TV+<\/td>R84.99<\/td>R125.99<\/td>+48%<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DStv Stream Premium is cheaper than it was five years ago, unlike plans from most international rival streaming services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":463095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[39088,96407,85,88200,475,2054],"class_list":["post-612985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-disney-2","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-stream","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612985"}],"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=612985"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613018,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612985\/revisions\/613018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}