DStv price hike: 11 streaming services cheaper than a Premium decoder subscription

In a cost analysis by MyBroadband, South Africans can enjoy eleven streaming services for less than the DStv Premium decoder subscription and Access Fee combined. As of April 1, 2024, DStv’s pricing will rise to R1,049 per month. However, savvy consumers can opt for a diverse array of entertainment-focused platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video for a total monthly cost of R1,004.97, providing a more economical alternative. Notably, sports enthusiasts can also access a selection of streaming services for R922.51, offering a budget-friendly solution.

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By Myles Illidge

South Africans can get eleven streaming services for less than the price of DStv’s Premium decoder subscription, and the company’s Access Fee, a MyBroadband analysis has revealed.

The MultiChoice-owned broadcaster will increase the package’s pricing to R929 per month from 1 April 2024, and adding the Access Fee will take the combined monthly charge to R1,049.

The Access Fee will increase from R115 to R120 on 1 April, making it more expensive to add an additional viewing environment to the package.

MultiChoice is implementing price hikes ranging from 3.1% to R7.8% across its portfolio, with DStv Premium increasing by R50 from R879 to R929.

MyBroadband determined what streaming services South Africans could subscribe to without exceeding the monthly price of DStv Premium and the Access Fee.

For the analysis, we assumed that households paying for DStv Premium would likely already have an active Internet connection sufficient for streaming.

At the time of publication, numerous international and local streaming services were available to South African residents, including platforms that offer specific content, like anime, local soaps, documentaries and educational content.

Although DStv’s streaming-only Premium package is much cheaper than the decoder-based one, it limits concurrent streams to one device. In contrast, rivals offer two or more at no additional cost.

DStv does offer an Extra Stream add-on, but it only applies to mobile devices.

The table below lists eleven entertainment-focused streaming services South Africans can subscribe to for less than the decoder-based DStv Premium and Access Fee charges.

Entertainment-focused streaming servicesServiceContentMonthly priceAmazon Prime VideoOld/New international movies and series. Bollywood movies and seriesR79.00Apple TV+US and UK movies and seriesR124.99BritBoxOld and new British movies and seriesR99.99CrunchyRoll Mega FanAnime and mangaR49.00Curiosity StreamDocumentaries and other educational contentR94.00Disney+Old/New international movies and series, including Marvel, Pixar Star Wars, National GeographicR139.00eVOD PremiumLocal movies, series, soaps, and older international moviesR29.99Netflix StandardOld/New international movies and series. Broad range of riginal content, including local productionsR159.00Showmax EntertainmentOld/New international movies and series. Local international movies and seriesR89.00Viu PremiumOlder international movies and series. SABC and eTV soaps. Dubbed Korean series.R69.00YouTube PremiumUser-created content spanning a broad range of topics. Ad-free viewing across the platform.R72.00TotalR1,004.97

However, one of the primary attractions of DStv’s Premium package is the extensive sports coverage offered through MultiChoice’s SuperSport channels.

Here, streaming services are very limited, with only a handful of services covering a small subset of live events available in South Africa.

These include DAZN, ESPN+, F1 TV, Showmax Mobile Premier League, and Stan Sport.

Combined, these streaming services total R922.51 per month — R126.49 less than the monthly price of DStv Premium and the Access Fee.

Showmax shifted its sports streaming strategy with the launch of Showmax 2.0.

Instead of offering the entire Showmax catalogue with extra sports content, as it did with Showmax Pro, sports fans can now opt for a standalone Showmax Mobile Premier League plan.

As the name implies, the content offered with the plan focuses on the English Premier League and is only accessible on mobile devices. It can be bundled with Showmax’s regular entertainment plans.

Other international sports streaming services are accessible through a VPN and a foreign payment method. However, this can be a hassle and is technically unlawful.

Below are several sports streaming services that South Africans can bundle together for less than the price of DStv Premium and the Access Fee.