MultiChoice South Africa has announced that its payTV outlet -DStv- is working on implementing new technology in its devices that will allow for multiple streams in households with legitimate subscriptions.
This was made known by MultiChoice South Africa CEO Nyiko Shiburi following fierce backlash from subscribers when it implemented a strict one-device streaming limit from 22 March 2022.
The restriction was considered highly controversial since other major streaming services don’t impose such a severe limitation on simultaneous streams on their standard and high-end packages.
On the other hand, critics argue that services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Showmax cost much less than DStv.
Recently Shiburi argued that although MultiChoice was aware of the frustration the change had caused, the damage piracy inflicted on the broadcasting industry outweighed the inconvenience felt by subscribers.
“When people pirate, the whole value chain gets impacted. You invest in a specific show, and you have certain expectations around the types of returns,” MultiChoice said.
“When it doesn’t happen, it impacts the actors, the advertisers, right across the chain.”
The most considerable criticism of the streaming limitation was that it prohibited more than one person in the same household from watching two different streams at once.
Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, previously said that DStv was working on a solution for this issue but could not provide a timeline for its development or rollout.
“What I can confirm is that we are working on is what we call ‘proximity control’, which will allow us more streams if we can show that you are in the same location as one of our devices,” Mawela said.
However, it was unclear how MultiChoice would establish when another device streaming on the same account was within the same home where one of its devices was located.
