DStv Zimbabwe recently surprised shocked its customers with the announcement of a reduction of the prices on some of its bouquets.
The issue of steep prices from the pay TV company has been a pain point for years and its not just Zimbabweans that complain about it. In fact, its one of the reasons why a number of subscribers from Zimbabwe and other countries figure out workarounds to sign up for DStv South Africa which is cheaper.
So just how much cheaper is DStv South Africa? We compared the two and the results actually show that following the price reductions the Zimbabwean option is still more expensive but the difference between DStv Zimbabwe bouquet prices and DStv South Africa prices is now significantly smaller.
For some bouquets its actually now negligible (US$1 for DStv Family for example). This is unlike the earlier price difference that made it so much easier for subscribers to opt for DStv South Africa given the chance.
| DStv South Africa Package | DStv South Africa price (in Rands) | DStv Zimbabwe equivalent’s price (in Rands) | DStv South Africa price (in $US) | DStv Zimbabwe price (in $US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DStv Premium | 759 | 1,001 | 55 | 72 |
| Extra | 459 | 653 | 33 | 47 |
| Compact | 345 | 389 | 25 | 28 |
| Family | 219 | 236 | 16 | 17 |
| Select | 219 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Access | 99 | 152 | 7 | 11 |
| EasyView | 29 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| M-Net Analogue/CSN | 369 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| DStv Indian | 345 | 486 | 25 | 35 |
| XtraView Access Fee | 85 | 152 | 6 | 11 |
This could mean that MultiChoice Africa (its the company that MultiChoice Zimbabwe falls under) is trying to lower prices while maintaining them at profitable levels that are close to what MultiChoice South Africa is offering.
At the end of the day subscribers that have been opting for DStv South Africa because of price issues will have less reason to if there isn’t much of a difference.
However, that’s not to say DStv Zimbabwe and MultiChoice Africa are going to win people’s hearts straight away. Any difference in price is still a good enough reason for subscribers on rogue DStv South Africa accounts to opt for the Zimbabwean version.
There’s also the difference in channels which means South Africa still provides “more for the same price”. This is a major issue for live sports (SuperSport has always been the deal maker for DStv) and any fans of SABC content.
For now, though, it’s important to note that until the South African Rand strengthens (which will make DStv South Africa more expensive) the difference in price has been significantly reduced.
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14 comments
Gentlemen, those differences are still big. Let’s not try to put icing on a salty cake. Satellite signals do not pay duty, Family bouquet, is 1 out 7 bouquets with a “negligible” difference. A more analytical approach would have been to put the differences expressed as percentages. By any logic why is there a $1 difference on the family bouquet and a $17 dollar difference on premium? From a technical stand point what extra is the signal to ZImbabwe doing more than the signal to SA on the premium bouquet. The reduction is welcome and accepted, but it should not be praised. We should pay exactly what SA subscribers are paying, end of story. You have also excluded the $2 (28 ZAR) charge by the DSTV agent collecting subscriptions. The $1 difference then becomes a $3 dollar difference.
A lot of things were omitted here, a majority of agents z zim charge high prices dan zim boquets, some agents chrge 30bucks for family n 40bucks for compact. Channel wise i prefer zim boquets (i don like sabc dat mch coz there a better channels dan em) bcoz they offer better channels, compare e access, family n compact boquets for both countries to c wat m tokin abt
urryt iwe vatora nguva yakareba stererk
but ini ndoti vadzikise zvekare
Mind you, there are no DSTV agents in Zimbabwe for the SA bouquet. Those are backdoor deals, if you are being fleeced there, it’s not an official DSTV cost. If you are foolish enough to pay more than other “agents” charge, it’s out of your own choice. It’d be nice if you had highlighted what the Zim bouquet has that is so much better than the SA bouquet. And, English is still alive by the way…
Its taken them this long to realise we are in a global market and you cannot corner a segment. They will have to reduce further than this to sufficiently attract customers back. Managers just overcharging and buying more high end cars.
vanofanira kudzikisa zvekare
kuti tikwanise kusubcriber so its good zvavaita
They should reduce further, what hav they done with access where the majority of Zimbabweans afford.
Mitengo ngaichecheudzwe zvekare
SA Account has SABC1,2 &3
Zim Accounts has Zbc
There is no amount of price reduction that will make me to cross-over. I direct pay to SA not via Zim cheats Agencies.
For me the big difference is the availability of SS3 which can be found on compact in south africa
The arrival of fierce competition from Kwese will see these prices fall further because besides Live sport and the news channels, Dstv is just shit. Repeat, repeat and repeat.
Reduce the price again
1 where can I find what the channels are in the compact plus ???????????
2 how do you justify no BBC Earth channel 184 in Zim ????