DStv Premium beats international sports streaming in price showdown

At R799 per month, MultiChoice’s DStv Premium streaming subscription is unmatched in sports offerings. The accumulative price of the streaming services required to match its offering as closely as possible exceeds R2,000 per month.

Moreover, some of these streaming services have not launched in South Africa and would require users to circumvent geoblocking to access them.

This means violating the terms of service of these platforms. Circumventing geoblocks is also considered a form of streaming piracy.

Therefore, the services listed here that have not been launched in South Africa are not shown as legitimate alternatives to DStv but to illustrate the value of SuperSport.

DStv has received criticism over the pricing of its Premium subscription in South Africa for years.

However, its live and catch-up sports content is truly unmatched, and this is where its actual value lies for many South Africans.

Compared to mostly on-demand video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, R799 per month for DStv Premium may seem high.

However, with 20 live SuperSport channels and two ESPN channels, it offers excellent value for money for sports fans in South Africa.

DStv Premium’s SuperSport channels include dedicated channels for football, cricket, rugby, golf, tennis, and motorsport, as well as several variety channels that also broadcast popular live events.

Seven of these channels are exclusive to DStv Premium and are not offered on the pay-TV broadcaster’s lower-tier packages.

The broadcaster recently re-introduced a second simultaneous stream on its Premium, Compact Plus, and Compact packages, enabling two people in the same household to watch two different streams concurrently.

“The update offers greater flexibility to customers, making it easier for them to watch what they want when they want,” it said.

This could be highly beneficial for households with fans of different sports when live events run simultaneously or when one person wants to watch live sports while another wants to watch something else.

Also worth noting is that MultiChoice has not increased the price of DStv Stream in years, resulting in an effective price decrease if inflation is factored in.

Sports streaming subscriptions to match DStv Premium

MyBroadband calculated the cost of subscribing to seven international streaming services that provide similar sports coverage to DStv’s Premium offering.

The combined cost of these streaming subscriptions totals R2,079.99 per month, more than two-and-a-half times the price of DStv Premium Stream.

This is based on the assumption that those services legally launch in South Africa and, therefore, exclude the costs of geoblocking workarounds like VPNs.

The most affordable subscription is for Disney+ Hotstar Super, based in India, for Rs100 (R21) per month. This service is geoblocked and only available to people in India.

It offers cricket, field hockey, mixed martial arts (MMA), some football, tennis, and Kabaddi, a local contact sport.

Formula 1 fans can sign up to F1 TV Pro to access live coverage, replays, and insights. The streaming service costs $5.99 (R109) per month and is officially available in South Africa.

Fans of boxing and other combat sports, extreme sports, and esports can subscribe to DAZN Premium for R149.99 per month.

To access US sports like American football, baseball, and college sports, as well as other coverage like UFC, tennis, and golf, you will need to add ESPN+ for $11.99 (R218 per month).

However, the subscription doesn’t cover all major tennis events, and fans wanting to watch these can sign up for ATP Tennis TV to access a broad range of grand slam tennis content for R308 per month.

Two major international broadcasters — Sky Sports and Stan Sport — offer a broad range of rugby content, including rugby league and rugby union. However, they are pretty expensive.

Stan Sport is AUS$28 (R310) per month and also offers some motorsport, tennis, and UEFA Football content.

Now TV offers live Sky Sports content, including cricket, rugby, Formula 1, golf, and some football. However, the standard subscription at £34.99 (R824) is ad-supported and only supports a maximum 720p resolution.

To remove ads and stream in 1080p, customers must pay for the “Boost” add-on at an additional cost, bringing the total price to £40.99 (964) per month.

The table below provides a breakdown of seven streaming services that, when bundled, offer similar sports coverage to DStv Premium.