After my rant in the previous article I got an email in my inbox suggesting I try MyTV and see how it compares with DSTV which it aims to compete with. MyTV is a smart card pay satellite service just like DSTV. Their service was launched sometime last year after being granted a license by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. The outfit is based in Lebanon and has been a DSTV alternative in other countries especially in North African countries.
They have agents in Harare and Bulawayo. To use their service you will have to purchase a decoder from one of these agents. You can expect to spend about $80 average on equipment. Indications are that the installation is not different from that of DSTV and Free to Air Decoders. There are no bouquets here, the subscriber has to pay a flat fee of $22 per month to access all the available channels. This is comparable to the price of DSTV’s Family bouquet which costs $20. Below is a comparison by category of MyTV channels and the DSTV Family bouquet.
At the moment MyTV has 26 premium channels covering genres like music, general entertainment, sport, series and documentaries. They even have channels like MyTV Series that are roughly an equivalent of Mnet Series which is not in the Family bouquet. A quick perusal of the MyTV guide however will tell you that the content of MyTV Series is different to that of Mnet Series. There seems to be an unusual number of Spanish and Philippine Telenovelas unlike Mnet Series with its American TV shows. Unless you are a fan of Telenovelas this is likely to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.
As said the service is popular in countries north of here and some of the channels on the list betray this. Whilst there are no channels from Sub Sahara there quite a number from Nigeria. The programming itself is mostly North African centered. As a sports fan you are not going to find sanctuary with MyTv unless if you are a Manchester United fan (MUTV is on the list of channels) otherwise you are better off paying for the premium bouquet. The Eurosports News channel compares well with Supersport blitz however.The fact that the number of channels itself is limited does not help matters. If you factor in the requisite $80 investment in a new Strong decoder so you can receive start using the service then you are left with very little incentive to buy this service especially if you are a current DSTV subscriber.
My advice, unless you are a viewer who can stand non-stop North African centred programming that is peppered with a little Western content you will do well to get the Compact bouquet and forget you have ever heard of MyTV even though it costs $8 extra. Just keep an eye on them perhaps one day they will be worthy competitor but at the moment they are way beneath the competition.
| Movies and General | Movies and General |
| Movies Action | Fox Fx |
| E-Entertainment | E-Entertainment |
| Sony Entertainment | Fox Africa |
| BlackBelt TV | MyTVAfrica |
| Zone Reality | MyTVMore |
| Mnet Movies Zone | MyTVSeries |
| Africa Magic | MyTV Yoruba |
| Africa Magic World | AIT |
| Mzansi Magic | BET |
| e TV Africa | e TV Africa |
| ZTV | Silverbird TV |
| Zee TV | |
| NTA Plus | |
| Sport | Sport |
| Supersport Blitz | EuroSportsNews |
| Supersport 9 | MUTV |
| ESPN Classic | Setanta |
| LifeStyle and Documentary | LifeStyle and Documentary |
| Style Network | Fine Living Network |
| The Home Channel | KBS World |
| Fashion TV | National Geo Gold |
| Travel Channel | True Movies |
| National Geographic | |
| Nat Geo Wild | |
| Kids and Teen | Kids and Teen |
| Boomerang | Jim Jam |
| Nickelodeon | |
| Kids Co | Kids Co |
| Mindset Learn | |
| Music | Music |
| Channel O | 1 Music |
| Mzansi Music | Trace |
| One Gospel | |
| Culture and Religion | |
| TBN | |
| Rhena Network | |
| Islam | |
| News | News |
| BBC World News | BBC World News |
| Al Jazeera | Al Jazeera |
| NDTV 24×7 | |
| CCTV News | |
| CNBC Africa | |
| Weather 24 | |
| Specialist | Specialist |
| RAI | |
| BVN | |
| ERT | |
| RTPi | |
| TV5 Monde | |
| DW | |
| CCTV4 | |
| Audio | Audio |
| DMX etc | |
For a detailed list MyTV channels go click here.
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22 comments
Drum ROLL…… And the Winner is….. Drum ROLL
TZ, you can also do a comparison with a service called Go TV I think…though they seem to be a baby of DSTV as I saw them at westagate by Danclive which happens to be a dstv agent.
I have looked into Go TV it’s just an exact replica of DSTV Acess bouquet.It appears to be a fancy name for the Acess bouqute but I am not sure if they are affiliated with DSTV, I strongly believe they are, but their list of channels really looks to be the work of MultiChoice
I guess then they are probaby the work of Multichoice. Thanks.
I saw a story about them a few moths ago – Its a Multichoice product (the logo font is even the same as the DSTV logo), but this time they work closer with the local station in respective countries. And its terrestrial broadcast – so I’m guessing no need for a dish, just decoder. But really, IT IS just a re-brand of DSTV access – probably to allow them to differentiate DSTV as the more premium brand – hence CHARGE MORE.
http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-entertainment-sc-tv+guide-byo-26868.html
You are right. It is a MC station for broadcast outside SA.
They still have a long way to go. They do not have National Geographics, Discovery Channel equivalents. Besides I do not support Manchester United ( that means the chances of buying it are slim). One word for the competitors, apart from aljazeera, we also want channels that show sports (football, la liga, epl, bundasliga etc, basketball, formula 1 and athletics ), history and science channels (discovery, national geographics, history). Until you have such channels, then guys like me will surely dump Dstv.
$80 for equipment is too much…..for dstv or wiztech its less than $50
The cheapest price for DSTV I could find was $60 for the full set- dish, LNB, cable and decoder. The DSTV decoder costs $30 (that’s the cheapest model.) So the equipment for MyTV is a bit expensive by about $20.
If you go to gulf complex you can buy the dish antenna, for 20 or less
It depends on your interest but I have used been with MyTV for 9 months now and I love their service.
We need to lobby DSTV to add SS3 to compact and all will be well.
Buy an SA decoder and use it there. I did it for my folks back home and they don’t miss their 6pm-10pm series period on SABC and ETV.
Unfortunately for Sub Sahara Africa Satellite TV there wont be any worthy competitors anytime soon. DSTV has indeed got the higher quality channels. I know of TopTV which has drastically failed in South Africa & Botswana. They have even resorted to providing porn channels in a bid to compete with DSTV (a rather desperate move). I am certain MyTV wont succeed much either down South.
All we can do (those of us who like quality programs) is continue waiting for faster & cheaper internet access so that we subscribe from internet TV providers like netflix etc… and say goodbye to the blood sucking DSTV.. 🙂 “Just my opnion”
I think people go into the pay tv business thinking it’s a fast money making business. MC/MNet started way back in 1986 when they tried to setup in HO Harare but the Gvt refused to license them. Then they setup shop in Joburg since then they have invested in the technology behind pay tv. The frequency license, satellites, encryption system, the setup boxes, the channles, the rights to shows/movies, sport rights, etc. I hear they even were the first to implement digital TV in the world hence DSTV name. Now they minting it after the long term investment into the business. It is also like telecoms. Econet has put gazillions into their network but good profits will only be realised after a long time. The problem we have is that people come up with ideas such as pay tv, pour money into it and expect a profit after one year of operation. ETV spends almost R1 million a day!!! to operate (figure derived after TopTV meltdown and how much it costs to run a station). Not pocket change and you may do this for the next 10 years. If one wants to beat MC, start now but look at books going into the “black” after 10 years. Maybe in 2023 you maybe a pay TV station to reckon with.
i disagree though what you are saying sounds very logical and well thought out.Pay TV is above programming and its possible to make tones of money in under 10 years.A good combination of channels and a fair price will to do well in the market.
We are lacking investment in this area in Africa that is why Dstv is looking so high and mighty……There is great staff happening out there and we are in a deep slumber IN OUR BELOVED AFRICA!!! emmmm before i forget its really not that difficult now to start up a PAYTV service ,the tech available these days has made it easy……ALL YOU NEED IS THE MONEY..
Forget ever getting Netflix and Hulu because of licensing and distribution issues. Unless they start producing a tonne of their own content which they can do what ever they please with, you’ll just have to suffer the life of a pirate.
MY TV IS THE WORST ……………………………DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY THE DSTV $10.00 BOUQUET IS BETTER THAN THEIR $22 BOUQUET……IF YOU WANT TO BE STRESSED JOIN THIS MY TV AND I TELL YOU WILL BE STRESSED FOR GOOD..
On the issue of Netflix Hululu plus thats out of the question,and back on DStv this is facing serious competition in East africa with these three pay tv companies Zuku tv Azamtv which beat MC on rights to broadcast the tanzania premeir league, and STARSAT from south africa.
Ldt me end by garanting u dat any time DSTV will be out competed becoz many premium channels are still inacessible even with DSTV like Syfy , abc family , be in sport BTsport etc
DStv is facing serious competition in East africa with these three pay tv companies Zuku tv Azamtv which beat MC on rights to broadcast the tanzania premeir league, and STARSAT from south africa.
Ldt me end by garanting u dat any time DSTV will be out competed becoz many premium channels are still inacessible even with DSTV like Syfy , abc family , be in sport BTsport etc
i am kindly looking for str 4940 strong hd decoder remote
did u manage to get it?