ANTON GILLIS | A typical 100-room hotel is spending roughly R468,000 a year on DStv

The days of eagerly waiting to watch your favourite TV show each week are long gone! We’re in an era of instant and anywhere — you can binge a new series in one night (we’ve all been there), enjoy an episode on your laptop during your lunch break at work and even press play on your phone in a coffee shop. Today we’re viewing entertainment where, when and how we like it.

Watching TV used to be restricted to sitting on a living room couch in front of a television set, but nowadays we are able to watch any form of entertainment wherever we please with different preferred screen options. In an unprecedented turn of events, American adults will devote more time to viewing digital video platforms, like Netflix, than regular television this year according to a report by Insider Intelligence. The report highlighted that regular TV viewing will make up less than half of Americans’ everyday viewing time, and that daily digital video consumption will be three hours and 11 minutes this year. 

But hotels are a little different. There’s still a level of appeal in being able to kick back after a hard day of meetings, lying on the beach, or spotting game and being able to watch that week’s big sporting event, be it The Tour de France, Wimbledon, or the Springboks and Proteas tackling the rugby and cricket world cups in the coming months. Alternatively, even if you’re on the other end of the world, you might still want the comfort of a live news broadcast when a big world-shaping event is happening. 

Unfortunately, the company that has a virtual monopoly on those kinds of broadcasts in South Africa is pricing hotels and other hospitality players out of the ability to offer those options to guests. In doing so, it’s harming their ability to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.   

With no competition in the market for decades DStv domineered home entertainment before the current streaming boom. As there was no previous concern over consumers switching from DStv, the satellite TV broadcaster was able to hike prices yearly. However, South Africans are enjoying the appeal of having more content to binge on VOD platforms at cheaper prices. 

As DStv continues to disgruntle consumers with higher prices it’s worth mentioning that in terms of content options, DStv presents consumers with the second lowest content (movie and TV titles) options in the country. While this streaming battle between competitors heats up it’s not just the domestic couch potato contemplating options.

Last year, I penned an article, DStv doesn’t care about tourism recovery, which outlined the vexation that I, as well as others in the industry, have with DStv. In short, the sums billed by the satellite operator can cost hoteliers hundreds of thousands of rand a year. A typical 100-room hotel is spending roughly R468,000 a year on DStv, and as the tourism industry is still in a state of recovery, after the Covid-19 pandemic, this has become an immense and unsustainable expense. As it stands DStv has been not willing to budge on these frustratingly considerable rates the hospitality industry is paying, in fact they have placed the decision in our hands.

It’s no secret that the costs of travelling and experiencing the beauty of South Africa is becoming increasingly expensive. As hoteliers we are battling with rising food and electricity costs, among other increases. But when it comes to the entertainment options we still have some control, which is why this DStv pricing conundrum is still pressing. At the end of the day, hoteliers only want to to try keep hospitality as affordable as possible to the local market.

Hoteliers are at an upsetting crossroads — are we going to continue staying loyal to a company that does not accommodate our industry’s restoration post-pandemic, or are we turning to other platforms that are only growing in popularity with cheaper rates? This means that it is a worthwhile time for hoteliers to investigate the entertainment and streaming viewing trends of South Africans to appropriately inform what the future of hotel entertainment options holds — especially if other options are going to be economical.

Travel news outlet Skift has predicted that the concept of bringing one’s own entertainment and devices will become more popular. A survey revealed that 75% of millennial travellers attempt to link their devices and streaming platforms to their hotel room’s TV. As hoteliers, we are constantly asking ourselves how we can give guests the best overall stay, and of course, this includes offering them the entertainment options they will enjoy. 

In my opinion, the future of in-room entertainment will be giving guests the best of their preferred home entertainment options. This could mean that hotels may implement software systems that guests can use to log in to their streaming accounts as they check-in, and it definitely means that hotels need to provide excellent WI-FI.

Earlier this year the annual DStv price increase caused an uproar from subscribers as the premium subscription price was set as R879 per month, while MultiChoice explained that their price increase was lower than what was forecasted. In 2022 MultiChoice reported a loss of R2.92bn, and it’s not just prices turning subscribers away, they are also enticed by the exclusive shows on streaming platforms. 

Standards and expectations of hotel rooms have drastically changed over the past few decades. Remember the days you expected your hotel room to have CD and DVD players? It’s very possible that the tourism industry will switch away from having a huge variety of channels to offer. Another aspect to mull over is that we are beholden to the grading criteria of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, who uphold the antiquated standard of having DStv as part of the hotel offering. Annoyingly this grading is needed should hotels wish to receive business from the South African government. While this market segment is not important for all hotels, many hotels still depend on the government business sector to fill their hotels on a nightly basis. As an industry, we are pleased to see corporate room contracts no longer require things like star grading.

As a hotelier who is always looking at delivering value and exceeding guest expectations, while still being mindful of returning a profit to our shareholders, cutting back channels seems to be the obvious low-hanging fruit.

South Africans have been faithful to our local broadcasting giant, DStv, in our homes and the travel industry. With a creeping takeover of MultiChoice by Groupe Canal+, a French media company, looming this leaves me even more concerned whether DStv will come to the table and cater to South African consumer needs. However, with each new competitive streaming service and raised prices on their part, perhaps our loyalty just might sway. It may be time for DStv to reconsider their packages before it’s too late.

* Anton Gillis is CEO at Kruger Gate Hotel