South Africans will soon be able to subscribe to Disney+ and eight other streaming services for less than the price of DStv Premium.
Walt Disney is officially bringing its streaming service to the country on 18 May 2022, with a single plan available at R119 per month or R1,190 per year.
With its arrival, South Africans will finally be able to watch popular new Disney content legally.
That includes TV shows from the Star Wars franchise, like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett — and from Marvel, such as WandaVision, Loki, and Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
Highly-anticipated new series releasing on Disney+ include Moon Knight, Ms Marvel, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor.
Disney+ joins an array of international movie and TV show streaming services in South Africa.
Alongside heavyweight Netflix, South Africans have official access to international services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and BritBox.
Several local streaming services are also available, such as eMedia’s eVOD, MultiChoice’s Showmax, and Vodacom Video Play.
These nine streaming services will offer a broader range of movies and TV shows than on DStv Premium, MultiChoice’s flagship satellite package.
They also offer several concurrent streams, allowing multiple viewers to watch different content simultaneously.
By contrast, DStv recently started limiting streaming on its packages to a single device.
This limitation applies to its streaming-only packages without a dish and decoders.
Provided you have a sufficiently fast and uncapped Internet connection, streaming services offer great value for money.
The table below shows the combination of streaming services you can sign up for at R20 less than the monthly R839 DStv Premium subscription.
Streaming services for the price of DStv Premium | ||
Concurrent streams | Monthly price | |
Disney+ | 4 | R119 |
Netflix Standard | 2 | R159 |
Amazon Prime Video | 3 | R79 |
Showmax | 2 | R99 |
Apple TV+ | 6 | R84.99 |
BritBox | 5 | R99.99 |
Vodacom Video Play | 2 | R99 |
eVOD | Not specified | R29.99 |
TelkomOne | 2 | R49 |
Total | R818.97 |
There are also many streaming services available in South Africa that cater to more specific tastes and interests.
Below is a selection of these services, which are also cheaper than a DStv Premium subscription.
Specialist streaming services | ||
Service | Type of content | Monthly price |
Crunchyroll | Anime and manga | $9.99 / R145.50 |
DEOD Binge | Religious, family-friendly | R39 |
Deukom | German language programming | R725 |
Marquee TV | Performing arts programming | R179 |
NET Afrikaans | Afrikaans lifestyle programming | R79 |
PrideTV | LGBTQ+ programming | R79 |
YouTube Premium | Ad-free YouTube | R72 |
Those who cannot do without live sports but still want to stay within the R839 budget will have to sacrifice a few of the options above.
Sports streaming packages are often costly, and many are locked to regions outside of South Africa, requiring a VPN and foreign payment method to work.
The broadcasting industry considers circumventing geoblocks a form of piracy.
For now, the primary sports streaming alternative available to South Africans is Showmax Pro for R449 per month. It offers athletics, football, boxing, and swimming.