Pick and choose your DStv channels? You’d pay more, says Multichoice

Being able to choose and pay for only the channels you want would work out more expensive, says MultiChoice in response to a reader’s letter.

Farouk Cassim, COPE’s mayoral candidate in Cape Town, argued that “unbundling of DStv must occur to allow for a wider audience and for an a la carte TV service”.

"At present there is just too much drivel on DStv and too many repeats. At a time when householders are hard-pressed to meet monthly commitments, the excessive cost of DStv can no longer be countenanced," Cassim said.

"Why can’t subscribers buy a base package and then add one channel at a time, for a flat rate per channel?" he asked.

“The reality is that it would work out to be much more expensive for customers to choose their own channels,” MultiChoice said.

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“The only way we're able to make our services affordable is to package channels in a way that suits groups of customers, so we can spread the costs.”

On their own, channels - especially the ones with the very recent shows and movies and live sporting events - would be “incredibly expensive”, the pay TV company said.

“We bundle channels into a few packages so we can give our customers a wide range of viewing and entertainment choices."

To offset the expense of the premium content, the cost is spread among multiple customers.

“It means that customers actually end up paying less for premium content,” MultiChoice said.

As for the claim that DStv costs are excessive - a view shared by many South Africans - the company says that’s unjustified.

“We've done a lot of research into what pay TV costs in other parts of the world, and we believe that DStv is still one of the most affordable services you can get.”

“We've also added significant value adds for our premium customers - our DStv Catch Up and BoxOffice services, our extended Catch Up available online and on connected Exploras, accessing live television channels and Catch Up content on DStv Now.”

The company said its research revealed that its subscribers tend to stick to a few favourite channels, failing to explore the full range of shows they’re paying for.

“We want to help our subscribers discover those hidden gems and new favourites - by subscribing to our newsletters, following us on social media or even viewing channel 100 on their decoder, we will help them make most of their DStv.

MultiChoice invited its subscribers to engage with the company about the DStv service - via its contact centre as well as on DStv.com