Durban - DStv users were being “over-demanding” said technical expert Arthur Goldstuck who felt consumers were spoilt for choice when watching shows.
Goldstuck said there was a reason behind DStv showing repeats.
He said when a pay TV channel bought rights to shows, they bought a certain amount of screenings of the shows, and to buy new shows all the time was not financially feasible.
This came as Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice SA’s chief executive, told the Daily News’ sister papers The Saturday Star and the Independent on Saturday, that DStv customers would not be able to choose their own channels.
Goldstuck also said the approach by DStv would not work in the long term.
The Saturday Star reported that DStv had lost more than 100000 premium subscribers in the last financial year. These figures were revealed at an Independent Communications Authority of South Africa hearing into subscription TV services about two weeks ago.
Mawela said Multichoice was working on several strategies to deal with unregulated competition from “over-the-top internet streaming services” such as Netflix.
Goldstuck said he was not surprised by what Mawela had said.
“The stubborn approach by DStv would alienate customers as they were forced to pay for packages they were not interested in.
“You can’t expect the sympathy of the public especially when prices are going up all the time,” Goldstuck said.
He said sports broadcasting was the only thing holding back DStv from being dominated by streaming services like Netflix: “If Netflix streams soccer, it will kill DStv overnight.”
“The market is shifting towards video on demand. People are rebelling they are leaving premium packages,” he said.
“If consumers chose wisely, they could get Netflix and fibre internet access at a cheaper price than what they would pay for premium,” he said.
Goldstuck said there were already plans to provide internet access.
As big as the company was, video on demand was still its biggest challenge as competitors like Netflix did not need much infrastructure, he said.
DStv had not responded at the time of publication.