New DStv package for 2020: But which one’s the best value for money?

The latest offering from DStv could be with us as early as next month. The “dishless” package is the preliminary name given to the streaming platform the MultiChoice-owned brand are looking to launch in 2020, in a bid to rival the migration of TV audiences online.

What is the new package from DStv?

The first-ever decoderless offering from DStv is still in its testing stage. It was announced at the end of last year that the company would push to put the service on the market “by the end of the first quarter”. There are already some obvious advantages to investing in the dishless option:

• There will be no installation fee, nor will an engineer need to visit your property
• Viewers can pick and choose when they want to watch their favourite shows.
• The video-on-demand service will come with access to Showmax.
• Although it is yet to be announced how many channels will be included on the service, it is likely to offer “more than 100” stations and come at a cheaper cost than Premium.

The price of each DStv service

But what would be a fair price for something like this? Well, let’s look at the internal competition first: DStv Premium is the most expensive of the bunch, costing over R800 each month (that can rise above R900 if Showmax is added on). Compact and Compact Plus both offer more than 100 channels, and you pay less-per-station than you would with the top service.

DStv Family has 33 fewer channels than compact, but only works out to be 28 cents per channel cheaper. Meanwhile, the Access and EasyView packages are the real price-busters. If you only need a few of your shows to keep you entertained, you can get both of these offerings on the cheap:

Package	Monthly Price	Channels	Cost per Channel
DStv Premium	R809	151	R5.34
DStv Compact Plus	R519	133	R3.90
DStv Compact	R399	120	R3.33
DStv Family	R265	87	R3.05
DStv Access	R99	67	R1.48
DStv EasyView	R29	37	R0.78

Cost of streaming services in South Africa

But whatever price “dishless” settles on, it may have to consider what it’s up against in the international streaming market. The most anyone has to pay for an elite service like Netflix in South Africa is less than R200 per month – a price that is cheaper than four of DStv’s existing packages. Here’s what they are up against:

• Netflix: From R129 – R199
• Amazon Prime: From R45 – R79
• Showmax: R99
• Apple TV: R73
• Viu: R69