If you remember brands like the Walka and the Drifta, you must have been a dedicated customer of DStv’s products and services at the start of the past decade. Launched by DStv parent company MultiChoice in 2011 and 2012, these names represented a range of gadgets that provided access to satellite TV via portable devices that took your entertainment to where you were at any given moment.
Because these were extensions rather than replacements of existing decoder technology, their use tended to be confined to bathrooms or showing off in restaurants, and they didn’t become household names.
Now, DStv is back with a 2020s take on the topic. It has unveiled an array of new devices intended to integrate the world of steaming video-on-demand into the linear scheduled world of broadcast TV. These include:
- Explora Ultra: Introduces 4K support and 3rd party streaming apps to the Explora decoder box. This prepares DStv for MultiChoice’s new deal with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, which will be integrated into the DStv platform. It will still allow recording, renting movies from BoxOffice and binge-watching on Catch Up. It means one will only need the single device to follow both streaming and satellite services.
- DStv Streama: A set-top box similar to Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast, it provides a DStv-curated range of content options via dedicated apps, including Showmax, YouTube, sport, entertainment, news and kids’ content.
- An upgraded DStv Now app: It finally promises liberation from the decoder. The app will allow customers with broadband to sign on to DStv without the need of a satellite dish or set-top box. One signs up for a DStv package on dstv.co.za, downloads the app, logs on, and starts streaming immediately. It is offered via Smart TV, browser, mobile phone or gaming console.
Click here to read on, as we look at the fundamental difference between the Streama and existing streaming devices.
Click here to read about Showmax Pro, which is the first SA streaming service to offer live sports and news.
The fundamental difference between the Streama and the likes of Apple TV is that the former remains a walled garden for DStv.
“It doesn’t have an open App Store, so it’ll be video and entertainment and music applications that we curate,” said Mark Rayner, chief executive office of MultiChoice, speaking to Gadget shortly after the launch on Wednesday. “It really is a DStv offering, so it’ll boot up into a DStv world, and all of the partner applications. Our in-house applications will sit within that world, and we will add to that over time.”
The new range of gadgets symbolise two seemingly contradictory strategies: opening up to the world of streaming, but locking users into a world of MultiChoice’s making. While the DStv Now app can be used across multiple devices, that comes with a range of restrictions. For example, the app can be used across five different “registered” devices, and automatically adds or removes these devices as one moves from one to another, but it does not allow more than two devices to be removed every six months.
“The ‘registered device’ mechanism is used to help us protect our content, in addition to various other mechanisms, such as stream concurrency and DRM (digital rights management) policies,” said Graeme Cumming, head of product development for the Connected Video division at MultiChoice. “While the device limits may be reviewed and adjusted in future, the need to protect our content will remain. The reason we auto-register new devices for customers, is to ensure that we make the process as seamless as possible for them.”
Netflix got round this problem with a far simpler mechanism, and simply limited the number of concurrent streams, rather than registered devices. As DStv matures in the app and steaming world, however, it is likely to become less prescriptive about how its service is used, focusing instead on who uses it.
As it is, the new options represent a watershed for the Organisation.
“It’s quite an historic moment in the life of this business,” said Rayner. “Previously, you always had to have a piece of hardware. We’re still providing great hardware in the Ultra and the Streama, but it’s not a requirement any longer. So, if you bought the latest Samsung TV and you are happy with the Smart TV experience, then go for it. You don’t need a decoder from us.”
One could say DStv has officially entered the 2020s. Cumming believes the evolution will continue: “The great challenge is things like single sign-on, like cross-application search, and that’s the next frontier to be solved. From a device perspective, TVs are getting smarter, and the need for devices is going to go away.”
- Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee