Posted 22 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Every year around renewal time, the same thought crosses a lot of South African minds: am I actually getting my money's worth here? It's a fair question. DStv has been the default for decades, but the bill has crept up and up while plenty of us only watch a slice of what we're paying for. So let's be honest about it.
A full premium package these days runs into serious money every month, on top of the decoder and the dish. For that you get a strong channel line-up, reliable signal that doesn't need internet, and the big exclusive sport. For some households, that's worth every rand – especially if the internet where you live is shaky.
But here's the catch most people recognise: you're often paying for a hundred channels to watch about ten. The maths starts to feel off.
If you've got a stable fibre or LTE line, a lot of what you pay DStv for can come over the internet instead – the same sport, the same kind of channels, a massive on-demand movie library – for a fraction of the monthly cost. No dish, no installation, no annual price creep.
That's the shift we've seen: people aren't necessarily unhappy with DStv's content, they're unhappy with the price of it.
Internet TV (IPTV) is the main alternative. You pay a small monthly fee, open an app on your TV or phone, and watch. Our own plans start at R150 a month with no contract – which, for most families, is less than a mid-tier DStv add-on.
It's not magic, though, and we won't pretend it is. IPTV depends on your internet and on the provider's servers being solid. A bad connection or a dodgy provider means buffering. That's exactly why we tell everyone to take a free trial and test it in the evening before switching anything off.
If budget isn't a concern and your internet is unreliable, DStv is still a fine, fuss-free choice. But if you're staring at the bill wondering if there's a smarter way – and your line is decent – then yes, there genuinely is. Most people who try IPTV for a month alongside their dish end up dropping the dish.
You don't have to decide today. Run both for a month, see which one you actually reach for, and let your remote make the call.