DStv to restrict users to streaming on one device at a time

Multichoice has a convoluted streaming strategy. You really have to comb through all their offerings to decide on the best streaming package for you. For some of us who are football lovers, Showmax Pro is a good option even though it lacks Champions League football. However, if you also love Formula 1 like I do, you have to look elsewhere, to the DStv streaming option.

This option gives you pretty much the whole of DStv, depending on the package you pick, from EasyView to Premium, just like with the satellite option. Therefore if you care about Rugby, Motorsport, Tennis, Golf, Cricket or Cycling you have to get DStv instead of Showmax Pro. 

It will cost you though, US$75 for the Premium package to get all the sports you could ever want. After paying that much, what you don’t want to hear is that there will be ridiculous restrictions on your experience. Multichoice has somehow managed to do that.

Only one stream at a time please

Multichoice says subscribers will be limited to streaming on just one device at a time from 22 March 2022. They can still register and log in on up to four devices but can only stream on one at a time. Users will therefore have to download content if they are to watch different content at the same time.

Why would Multichoice do this? They are trying to combat password sharing which they call piracy. Let us not pretend that this is not a real problem. People do share passwords even as they also split the cost of a subscription. 

Before the new restrictions, subscribers could stream on two devices concurrently. With that setup, you could split a sub with a friend and ‘only’ have to pay close to Compact package prices each and yet get Premium. Now this setup won’t work unless one guy works the night shift and the two of you watch at different times of the day. 

Furious customers

Subscribers are nonetheless furious at Multichoice and are threatening boycotts. They acknowledge that the problem is real but argue that the move just works to punish subscribers who abide by terms and conditions. Why is it that the good citizens always have to suffer for the few bad apples? Cry the subscribers.

It happens every time, 2 out of a hundred abuse a system and restrictions are put in place for the whole hundred. To be fair to Multichoice, we don’t know how prevalent password sharing was. 

Maybe their investigations show that this practice was prevalent, something which analysing the locations of devices logged into the same account can reveal. It doesn’t matter how related you are, if one device is streaming from Bulawayo and the other from Harare, those are two households which should have two subscriptions.

That logic won’t assuage subscribers who are threatening to cancel their subscriptions when the restrictions kick in. These subscribers can get Showmax Pro, Netflix, Amazon Video, Apple TV Plus and other streaming options all for less than the DStv Premium subscription. 

Now that should give Multichoice cause to pause. If those subscribers don’t care that much about sport or only care about football, this cocktail of streaming services would provide better value than the DStv Premium package. Would such subscribers ever go back to DStv? 

Dear Zimbabwean, do consider the options you have:

All the video streaming services available in Zimbabwe compared

Also, find the justification to distch DStv streaming here. The DStv streaming only option was never a good option to begin with.

DStv launches its streaming only service in South Africa, the pricing doesn’t make sense