MultiChoice replaces DStv packages with five streaming plans from R99
The Randburg pay-TV overhaul lands on September 17, and it is the first time a dedicated sports plan has been sold on its own in South Africa.
MultiChoice is retiring its DStv package structure and replacing it with five streaming plans priced from R99 to R799 a month, with the new line-up taking effect on September 17.
As IOL reported on September 15, the plans run from Starter at R99 for 85 channels, through Select at R299 for 100 channels, Sports at R399 for 115 channels and Movies & Series at R500 for 115 channels, up to Premium at R799 for 130 channels.
The overhaul was announced in early September at a media briefing at MultiChoice City in Randburg by Willington Ngwepe, chief executive officer of MultiChoice (Pty) Ltd. Ngwepe said new and more exciting content formed part of a wider strategy to offer customers value, alongside the changes to the packages.
The company is also introducing new destination channel brands, among them Wethu+, SuperSport Kickoff, SuperSport Football Plus, M-Net Movies+, Stars and Legends.
What changes at the till
The R99 entry point is the number most South African households will notice first. It is the lowest advertised price in the new structure and it buys 85 channels, which puts a legal streaming option within reach of a prepaid household that has never held a DStv contract.
At the top of the range, Premium at R799 carries 130 channels, the largest line-up on offer. Between those two ends sit three plans built around a single appetite: general entertainment at R299, sport at R399, and films and series at R500.
The Sports plan is the one to watch. A dedicated sports package sold on its own is a break from the way pay-TV sport has traditionally been bundled in South Africa, where a viewer who wanted live football or rugby generally bought the whole bouquet to get it.
Why a pay-TV company is selling streaming
MultiChoice is not the only broadcaster in this market responding to how South Africans now watch. The company’s own framing, given at the Randburg briefing, is that viewing habits have changed and that what households are prepared to pay for entertainment has changed with them.
That is a business statement, and it is also a plain description of the market. Data costs, fibre roll-out and the spread of smartphones have moved a large share of viewing off the decoder and onto the phone. Selling five plans as streaming options, rather than as tiers of a satellite subscription, is the company meeting that shift where it is happening.
The new channel brands point the same way. Wethu+, Stars and Legends, M-Net Movies+ and the two SuperSport channels are destination names, built so that a subscriber on a smaller plan still knows what they are buying.
What a subscriber should check before September 17
The prices above are the advertised monthly figures for the new plans. A household deciding what to do should check three things against its own account: what it currently pays, which channels it actually watches, and whether the plan it is being moved onto carries them.
For a family that has kept a full bouquet mainly for sport, the arithmetic is now different, because sport can be bought on its own at R399. For a household that watches mainly series and films, the R500 Movies & Series plan and the R299 Select plan are the two to weigh against each other.
The new structure takes effect on September 17, which is the date on which the old packages make way for the new ones.
Source: IOL, DStv sports package streaming price: What you’ll pay from September 17 (https://iol.co.za/entertainment/streaming/2026-09-15-dstv-sports-package-streaming-price-what-youll-pay-from-september-17)
