{"id":672544,"date":"2026-10-21T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=672544"},"modified":"2026-10-21T20:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T18:04:55","slug":"dstvs-cheaper-decoder-and-subscription-deals-may-never-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/672544-dstvs-cheaper-decoder-and-subscription-deals-may-never-return.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv’s cheaper decoder and subscription deals may never return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MultiChoice paused its more affordable DStv Price Lock contracts in July 2026 and has told MyBroadband they are unlikely to return under the broadcaster’s current strategic focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the decision to pause the contract options was made to mitigate lock-in risks that arise when DStv’s packages are restructured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Following the launch of our new pack structures, sales of Price Lock (hardware and subscription) contracts were paused in July,” MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Existing Price Lock customers continue to be fully supported for the duration of their agreement, and a clear migration framework has now been established for them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that although MultiChoice initially made provisions to re-evaluate Price Lock contracts, its current strategic focus on product simplification made the reintroduction of these contracts unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this strategic focus, MultiChoice aimed to simplify its package offering, including aligning its DStv Stream and decoder-based subscription prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was first mentioned by Groupe Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada and reiterated when MultiChoice detailed the restructuring of its DStv bouquets in September 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step in the simplification was the launch of a standalone Movies & Series package for R500 per month. It has the same price whether subscribers select the streaming-only or decoder-based service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pricing of DStv Movies & Series marked a significant deviation from MultiChoice’s usual approach, except for its very basic EasyView package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decoder-based DStv products have generally been more expensive than their streaming-only counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movies & Series also stands out as the only premium-tier DStv product with a rounded price. Previously, only EasyView and DStv Access decoder-based package prices did not end with “9”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about this, Canal+ Africa CEO for South African pay TV, Byron du Plessis, said the change was experimental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said they had rounded up the DStv Access decoder-based price in 2025 to make it easier to work with when customers paid their subscriptions in cash at physical retail outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Plessis also explained that Canal+’s pricing structure in France and other regions generally uses rounded pricing, so MultiChoice was testing its parent company’s strategy in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Du Plessis said that because DStv had not yet changed its legacy pricing in South Africa, it had both price structures in place for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want to see if this makes any difference over the next six to twelve months, and then we will eventually move to one or the other,” Du Plessis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broader DStv repricing in the works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Byron du Plessis, CEO of SA pay-TV at Canal+ Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the DStv Movies & Series price being the same for streaming-only and decoder-based customers, Du Plessis indicated that this was the beginning of a broader repricing of DStv packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The idea is that the two prices will be aligned because the content is similar on both packages,” he said. He assured the Movies & Series price was not a promotion that would later rise for decoder customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DStv also announced a Price Lock contract for its decoder-based DStv Premium package, which reduced the monthly price from R979 to R799, to customers willing to commit to a 24-month contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar contract options for its other products which included a decoder are no longer available, MultiChoice has confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It previously offered plans for a DStv HD Decoder bundle, which included installation, the decoder, and a DStv Access subscription for R199 per month over 24 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pay-TV broadcaster also bundled the Explora and Explora Ultra decoders, with installation and various subscriptions on 24-month contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, customers could bundle the Explora Ultra decoder, with installation and a DStv Premium subscription, for R1,099 per month over 24 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the same contract term, they could also bundle the Explora or Explora Ultra with a DStv Compact subscription, priced at R724 and R599 per month, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These bundles made DStv’s products more accessible to those who did not have the funds to buy a decoder and pay the full cost of installation in one go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice said it was unlikely that it would bring back deals that offered customers a reduced price that bundled decoders and DStv packages on contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":651516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2112982509428302230","_sma_facebook_post_id":"120850204637381_1536444578507520","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17973060888176458","_sma_threads_post_id":"18095639588427679","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[97897,21383,101596,85,108104,12747,35899,475],"class_list":["post-672544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-byron-du-plessis","tag-canal","tag-canal-africa","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-contract","tag-dstv-premium","tag-dstv-price-lock","tag-multichoice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672544"}],"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=672544"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":673415,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672544\/revisions\/673415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}