Well it’s R699 which includes showmax for premium. Seems well priced to me.

It’s sport that cost the most. Sport rights. They also have to buy this from overseas which cost alot. Overseas people don’t care what we earn when selling rights to DStv.

If your salary cannot buy premium start with what you can afford. I don’t have dstv as I cannot afford it. I live within my means.

Buddy, DSTV costs about 25% of your months salary if you earn minimum wage in SA. Whereas the overseas packages costs less than a days salary. The contrast is huge.

And no you don’t pay what you get for. Nobody cares about any dstv content except sport mostly. You can get high speed fibre and two streaming services with much more content for the same price.

Nobody said it must be free buddy.

I had dstv sub for world cup. After this not subscribing. But still understand their model.

Difference between support and using common sense.

Don’t get me wrong not saying your are stupid or not thinking. That’s why it’s a debate.

Atleast one service that works. Expensive yes but rights to broadcast is not cheap.

Everyone had the opportunity to bid but didn’t because it’s too expensive.

Not one of us are running a broadcasting business so it’s probably best to not comment at all.

Besides F1 that’s 1 sport out of how many?

That alone one your R70 per month is 10% of a full premium streaming sub.

Legal sport streaming is not cheap.

If you want cheap there is alot of Iptv providers offering this.

If you need to use a VPN it’s illegal.

Again we are ready to blame DStv for having the monopoly. But why have example SABC not bid for the rights?. Because it’s too expensive.

Everyone had equal right to bid for the rights but didn’t.

@Riaan …yours is not the only comment that was removed and I guess I must’ve broken the cardinal TC rule for pointing out that the appropriate comparison ought to be based on the Big Mac Index.

So, you’re unfortunately not the only one to steal the glory on the podium for removed comments on this ridiculously patronising article that only serves to undermine the intelligence of the public.

Not sure why you support them .
You must have loads of money.
There are other platforms for much less.

That’s because they know you won’t take the others as well.

Not sure why, but my original article was “removed”. I am convinced I did not break any post rules, but, if I did, where do I find out which rule I broke, so that I may repost within the rules? I do see I used the “H” word when referring to the place of eternal torment and fire. Maybe that was it? Or was it too many caps-lock in that one paragraph? Not sure.

But, in the meantime, here is my article again, the original one:

I have to agree with some of the other commenters on this point: you cannot simply compare ZAR price with GBP or USD. You are making a HUGE mistake! You have to compare true value. That, on the other hand, is a very difficult calculation, but, in most cases (using a general rule of thumb) the price of a McDonalds hamburger is used to find the ratio/real-world value of one currency, compared to another. Again, this is a simplified form of comparison, but, it is closer to reality.

Secondly, probably THE MOST IMPORTANT STATEMENT IN THIS ARTICLE: DSTV does not offer Supersport as a separate package. Thus, we can say, if you want to see ANY specific sport on DSTV, you are paying roughly R900 pm to watch that sport.

THAT IS A LOT!

Compare that to my F1 subscription of roughly R800 PER YEAR, for FULL ACCESS TO ANYTHING F1. This is not a VPN or illegal pirate thing. It is fully legal in SA to subscribe to F1 directly.

Sure, this is for one sport only, but, then, most folks follow maybe 4 sports? Let’s take my father-in-law: an AVID golfer, and still a single-digit handicap at age 76. He watches rugby, golf, f1. Since he has DSTV, he will also sometimes, when bored, follow some cricket, tennis or football (soccer), but, if you told him to choose only 1 of those, it would be cricket, and he would happily ignore tennis and football (soccer).

So, let’s say each sport is offered individually as a subscription comparable to my F1 package, then he would be paying R3200 per year. LESS THAN A QUARTER OF THE DSTV PACKAGE THAT INCLUDES SPORT!!! And, if he really wants some movies and series, pick a streaming service (even dstv’s own showmax) like netflix, and his total yearly sum comes to LESS THAN R5000 per year. STILL LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT DSTV COSTS!

Worldwide, there are loads of rugby, golf, cricket and other sports services out there that ask a similar fee to my f1. Unfortunately, licensing means that you would have to be willing to use a vpn to pay for, and access it – this is illegal, as you would be breaking South African law. But, those who are willing to take that risk, have their choice of sport, for around a third of what dstv charges.

F1 appears to be the only one at present, that you may legally use in SA.

THERE IS NO WAY IN *** THAT DSTV CAN BE CALLED REASONABLY PRICED OR CHEAP. THE ARTICLE USES FAULTY MATHS (COMPARING ZAR DIRECTY TO OTHER CURRENCIES), and DSTV’s anti-competitive monopoly makes licensing of alternative service providers “illegal”.

Everything with sport (Rugby, cricket, motorsport) costs alot

Wel…hmmmm….I’m not convinced.
Again, if you refer to my other post here, you will note, F1 only costs about R60-R70 per month.

I did not go and check now again, but, a while ago, when I was looking for a Rugby option, the VPN was about R40 per month and the service about R100 per month at most. BUT, that’s if I just take Rugby, on its own, from a provider. If you take a broader sports package, you get maybe 4 – 8 different sports for about R200 per month.

Then, streaming all inclusive is not 699. I just checked again. Presently it is 799, and a short while ago (maybe a few weeks) when I was considering signing up for the RWC, it was around R860 or R890. See attached screenshot of their website (if I uploaded it right).

If screenshot did not upload, here is site link

https://www.dstv.com/en-za/buy/dstv-packages/dstv-stream

So, ja, in my humble opinion, DSTV is doing a “no one in SA knows how cheap and easy this really is, so let’s scoop up as much as we can before the bubble bursts” with us, and, the fact that they were first, and got the monopoly due to being first paid service, they are crushing every drop of water that they can, out of the rock.

The ability to pause, record, rewind and even “slowly catch up while you watch if you started watching late”, was already available in the US in about 1999. When did DSTV decide to implement that technology of the South African market – SOMETHING LIKE TEN YEARS LATER!!!,

And even still today, you cannot “catch up”. Their “catchup” is just “watch later”. The real “catchup” plays the stream back at a slightly faster speed that it is, so that, if you start watch (say a rugby game) 15 or 20 minutes late (you are held up and can only start watching after kick-off), you can select a “catchup” option, and it calculates a reasonable speed to increase what you are seeing, so that, by the time the game ends, you are “live”, and someone cannot accidentally text/call you and spoil the ending.

I honestly am convinced they will offer the absolute minimum, at the absolute highest they are able, and they will exploit that to the max, so long as they are able, because they have a monopoly.

Sure, that is obviously what any company will do. Companies are NOT there to serve clients, they are there to make money. No argument. But, this is why one wants some laws about allowing competition in your country. Precisely so that the consumer is not entirely abused, but at least has some options.

I laugh at the OUTSURANCE billboard that says something like: we care about your home, your car, your life etc etc, oh, and we “also” do insurance. Companies must think consumers are absolute morons! Who ever decided to create a company, and it’s main aim is to “care” about people, and, oh, by the way, if there is time, let’s try and make a few bucks on the side. What bull**** !?

Anyways, that last paragraph is just an aside. I understand DSTV is not in it for my pleasure, they’re in it for the money. That’s the only reason they exist – to make money. Fair enough, but, back to the previous paragraph….they are exploiting and abusing a position which they are in, and it should be declared illegal, and competitors should be allowed to operate in the sporting field.

But, then again, that’s just my 2c.

🙂

That is what I was gonna say too.

Everything with sport (Rugby, cricket, motorsport) costs alot.

Does not help to have a standalone package and it still costs R500.

Btw DStv all inclusive costs R699 streaming so R900 is a bit out of you only stream like most people now do.

They had a service that was going to launch where you can choose but never materialised.

On the long run this may happen but will up the overall costs. So in the end a premium subclscriber to have everything need to pay R1200-R13000 to have everything again.

I would happily “pay for what I get”, if I could CHOOSE what I get. DSTV does not give one the choice when it comes to aport. See my article above.
And, the competitors to DSTV, are ALSO paying overheads, and yet they are not skimming R900 per month from users.