DStv

DStv

Type	Public
Industry	Pay television
Founded	1995
Headquarters	Ferndale, Randburg, South Africa
Area served	South Africa
Products	Direct Broadcast Satellite
Services	Television
Owners	Multichoice
Website	www.DStv.com

DStv (Digital Satellite Television) is MultiChoice's digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995, providing various bouquets offering general entertainment, movies, lifestyle & culture, sport, documentaries, news & commerce, children, music, religion and consumer channels to MultiChoice subscribers. DStv has around 8 million subscribers,^[1] with the majority being in South Africa and Nigeria. These two markets are considered to be the most important markets for DStv, although markets such as Kenya, Angola, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Mauritius and Tanzania, though not having as many subscribers, are also a focus point for DStv.

History

Old DStv logo

• 1986, Pay-television came to South Africa when an analogue, single-channel service, M-Net, was launched by Naspers. For almost seven years, all M-Net's operations were handled by a single company.
• 1993, Naspers created a subsidiary company, Multichoice, which was to handle the business arm of M-Net, such as decoder sales, subscriber services and account management.^[2]
• 1995, Multichoice announced that it was launching a new digital, satellite service in South Africa and, on 6 October 1995, DStv was officially activated to subscribers. The original video channel bouquet consisted of 17 channels: M-Net, MGM Channel, Turner Classic Movies, TNT Sci-Fi Universal, SuperSport, ESPN, SelecTV, Travel Channel, KTV, Cartoon Network, BBC World News, CNN International, Sky News, Rhema Network, MTV, VH1 and TV5Monde.
• 2000, Launch of W4 Eutelsat satellite with Ku-band services to sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
• 2001, Launch of Indian and Portuguese bouquet.
• 2002, Launch of Interactive Television.
• 2003, Dual View decoder launched.
• 2005, The DStv PVR decoder and DStv Compact is launched. DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa cross the 1 million mark.
• 2006, MultiChoice launches BBBEE Share Scheme, Phuthuma Nathi.
• 2007, Channel Shuffle on 1 October, moving channels around to 3-digit numbers and for them to be in their right genre groups.
• 2007, Launch of DStv Select and of entry bouquet DStv EasyView.
• 2008, Launch of DStv's first High Definition decoder the HD PVR, XtraView and the first HD channel, M-Net HD.
• 2009, HD channels - SuperSport 1 HD, Discovery HD Showcase are launched.
• 2010, DVB over IP (Digital Video Broadcast over Internet Protocol) and DStv on Demand service launched, as well as the HD PVR 2P and M-Net Movies 1 HD.
• 2011, DStv BoxOffice & DStv Mobile launched.
• 2011, GOtv, a new digital pay television offering on digital terrestrial television platforms is established in a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• 2012, DStv launched a new satellite in August "Intelsat 20", shuffling the channel numbers and offering subscribers 8 new HD channels from 1 October:
  • M-Net Movies Premier
  • M-Net Movies Comedy
  • M-Net Movies Family
  • M-Net Movies Action +
  • M-Net Movies Romance
  • M-Net Movies Showcase
  • M-Net Series Showcase (is a dedicated Series Channel first Fresh HD Series )
  • Studio Universal HD
  • 2 new AfricaMagic channels
• 2013, Multichoice adds FoxHD to (DStv Premium Premium package only) and kykNET & Kie (DStv Family, Compact, and Premium packages). It also launched a new DStv Family bouquet^[3]
• 2013, DStv subscribers across Africa reach 6.7 million, with 4.5 million within South Africa.^[4]
• 2013, Multichoice launches its next-generation PVR decoder, the DStv Explora to Revolutionise TV in SA^[5]
• 2014, Africa Magic discontinues their old channels and replaces them with Africa Magic Showcase, Africa Magic Family and Africa Magic World.
• 2014, The new channels, Lifetime (131), Nicktoons, Nick Junior, Vuzu Amp, M-Net Edge and Glow (167) are launched.
• 2015, The new channels, Zee World (Hindi dubbed in English)(03/02/15) (166), Glow Tv (167), M-Net City (115), BET International (135), AMC (140), EVA (141), ITV Choice (123), M-Net Family (162)
• 2015, DStv upgrades its online customer experience (12–16 July 2015) improving customer experience and adding features which could only be done by contacting their call centre, giving their customers more self-service options.
• 2015, BBC Worldwide announced the launch of 3 BBC channels on Multichoice Africa:
  • BBC Brit replacing BBC Entertainment channel 120 and will be available on DStv Premium, Extra, Compact Plus, Compact on 1 September.
  • BBC Earth HD replacing BBC Knowledge channel 184 and will be available on DStv Premium on 1 September.
  • BBC First as a new channel 119 on DStv Premium on 18 October.
  • Alongside BBC World News and the new additions to DStv Compact BBC Lifestyle and Cbeebies.
• 2015, Popular Christian station Emmanuel TV (390) launches on DStv.
• 2015-2016, The launch of ID Xtra on DStv from 5 January 2016 to replace Investigation Discovery.
• 2016, TBN launches on DStv replacing Rhema tv from 4 March.,
• 2016,Dstv changes channel numbers for Vuzu Amp (now channel 103), M-Net Movies Premiere (now channel 104) and M-Net Movies Showcase (now channel 107) and cancelling M-Net Movies Drama & Romance and combining M-Net Movies Comedy and M-Net Movies Family into M-Net Movies Smile (channel 105).M-net Movies stars was renamed M-Net Movies All Stars. M-Net Movies Action and M-Net City began broadcast in HD.
• 2016,On 18 October 2016,M-Net Movies All Stars,Crime & Investigation Network, Food Network, KykNET& Kie, History Channel ,Vuzu,SuperSport 6, SuperSport 2, BBC First and Mzansi Wethu began broadcast in HD.CBS Drama and CBS Action stopped airing on 20 October,while AMC and True Movies 1 will stop airing on the 11 and 12th of November respectively.

Packages & Channels

SOUTH AFRICAN PACKAGES

Channel Number	Channel Name	DStv Premium	DStv Extra	DStv Compact	DStv Family	DStv Access	DStv EasyView	DStv Indian	DStv Portuguesa
100	Dish	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
101	M-Net HD	X
102	M-Net Edge HD	X
103	Vuzu AMP HD	X
104	M-Net Movies Premiere HD	X
105	M-Net Movies Smile HD	X
106	M-Net Movies Action+ HD	X
107	M-Net Movies Showcase HD	X
110	M-Net Movies Action HD	X	X	X	X	X
111	M-Net Movies All Stars HD	X	X	X	X
112	Studio Universal HD	X	X	X
115	M-Net City HD	X	X	X	X	X
116	Vuzu HD	X	X	X
117	Universal Channel HD	X	X	X	X
118	Telemundo	X	X	X	X	X
119	BBC First HD	X
120	BBC Brit	X	X	X
121	Discovery Channel HD	X
122	Comedy Central	X	X
123	ITV Choice HD	X	X
124	E! Entertainment Television	X	X
125	FOX HD	X	X	X
126	FOX Life	X	X	X	X	X
127	SONY	X	X	X	X
128	Sony MAX	X	X	X	X
129	BET	X	X	X
130	MTV	X	X	X
131	Lifetime	X	X
132	CBS Reality	X	X	X	X	X
135	TLC Entertainment	X	X	X	X	X
136	Discovery Family	X	X	X	X
137	TCM	X	X	X	X	X	X
139	M-Net Movies Zone	X	X	X	X	X
141	EVA English	X	X	X	X
144	kykNET HD	X	X
145	kykNET & Kie HD	X	X	X	X
146	kykNET Nou!	X	X	X	X
147	VIA	X	X	X	X
152	Africa Magic Epic	X	X	X	X	X
153	Africa Magic Urban	X	X
154	Africa Magic Family	X	X	X	X
155	Africa Magic World	X	X	X	X	X	X
156	SABC Encore	X	X	X	X	X	X
161	Mzansi Magic HD	X	X	X
162	M-Net Family HD	X	X	X	X
163	Mzansi Wethu HD	X	X	X	X	X
164	Mzansi Bioskop	X	X	X	X	X
165	Ebony Life TV	X	X	X
166	Zee World	X	X	X	X
167	Glow TV	X	X	X	X
170	Crime & Investigation HD	X	X
171	Discovery IDx	X	X	X
174	BBC Lifestyle	X	X	X
175	Food Network HD	X	X	X
176	The Home Channel	X	X	X	X	X		X	X
178	Fashion One	X	X	X	X	X
179	Travel Channel	X	X	X	X
180	People's Weather	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
181	National Geographic	X	X	X
182	Nat Geo Wild	X	X	X	X	X
183	Animal Planet	X	X
184	BBC Earth HD	X
186	History HD	X	X
189	Ignition	X	X	X	X			X	X
190	Channel ED	X	X	X	X	X
191	SABC 1	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
192	SABC 2	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
193	SABC 3	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
194	e.tv HD	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
200	SuperSport Blitz	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
201	SuperSport 1 HD	X
202	SuperSport 2 HD	X
203	SuperSport 3 HD	X	X	X
204	SuperSport 4 HD	X	X	X
205	SuperSport 5 HD	X
206	SuperSport 6 HD	X
207	SuperSport 7 HD	X
208	SuperSport 8	X
209	SuperSport 9	X	X	X
210	SuperSport Select	X	X	X	X	X		X	X
212	SuperSport 12 HD	X	X
221	SuperSport Maximo 1 HD	X
239	TellyTrack	X	X	X	X	X
251	Soweto TV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
260	Bay TV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
261	1 KZN	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
262	Tshwane TV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
263	Cape Town TV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
265	GauTV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
286	Swazi TV					X
292	Lesotho TV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
301	Cartoon Network	X	X	X	X	X
302	Boomerang	X	X	X	X
303	Disney Channel	X
304	Disney XD	X	X	X
305	Nickelodeon	X	X
306	BBC Cbeebies	X	X
307	Nick Jr	X
308	NickTOONS	X	X	X	X
309	Disney Junior	X	X	X	X	X
310	JimJam	X	X	X	X	X
319	Mindset Learn	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
320	Channel O	X	X	X	X	X
321	Mzansi Magic Music	X	X	X	X	X
322	MTV Base	X	X	X
323	VH1 Classics	X	X
325	TRACE Urban	X	X	X
326	TRACE Africa	X	X	X	X
331	One Gospel	X	X	X	X	X
340	Dumisa	X	X	X	X	X
341	FAITH	X	X	X	X	X	X
343	TBN	X	X	X	X	X	X
347	ITV	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
390	Emmanuel TV	X	X	X	X	X	X
400	BBC World News	X	X	X	X	X
401	CNN International	X	X	X
402	Sky News	X	X	X
403	eNews Channel Africa	X	X	X
404	SABC News	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
405	Africa News Network 7	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
406	Al Jazeera	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
407	Russia Today	X	X	X	X	X
408	Parliamentary Service	X	X	X	X	X	X
409	CCTV News	X	X	X	X	X	X
410	CNBC Africa	X	X	X	X	X
411	Bloomberg	X	X
412	Business Day TV	X	X	X	X	X	X
413	NDTV 24x7	X	X	X	X	X		X
430	RAI Italia	X	X
431	BVN	X	X
437	TV5 Monde Afrique	X	X
446	Deutsche Welle	X	X
447	CCTV 4	X	X	X	X	X	X
450	SET Asia							X	X
451	B4U Movies							X	X
452	Zee Television							X	X
453	Star Plus							X	X
454	Sun TV							X	X
455	Star Vijay							X	X
456	Colors							X	X
457	SET MAX							X	X
507	Telemundo								X
508	EVA Portuguese								X
515	TV Record								X
517	SIC International								X
525	RTP Internacional								X

DStv MobileX

DStv Mobile DVBH and Bomba

DStv 20th Century Fox generations

Decoders

DStv has a range of decoders (set-top boxes) manufactured by Altech UEC and Pace. The latest decoders allow subscribers to use XtraView. This allows a subscriber to link two decoders under a single subscription fee, to increase the viewing environments.^[6] (similar to Sky‘s multiroom).

Standard decoder

The Standard Decoder is DStv’s entry level HD single view decoder, introduced in 2014. It has XtraView capability, where it can be linked to itself,the HD PVR or the HD EXPLORA.

Explora

The explora, released in 2013 is DSTV's top spec decoder, improving on the old HD PVR decoder with more memory. It can record 1 channel and watch 1 channel.

The Explora, despite many updates to the firmware, still has many bugs that frustrate subscribers. In particular the Explora Catchup feature frequently skips episode 1 of a series, rendering the series unwatchable. Likewise, the schedules have been plagued by incorrect synopsis, incorrect series' numbers, incorrect actor and director details as well as recording conflicts and awkward user interface.

DSTV has yet to announce a schedule for repairing these issues, and largely ignore the many complaints.

Drifta decoder

^[7] A Drifta is a mobile decoder that receives a DVB-H signal, converts it into Wi-Fi, then relays it to a Wi-Fi enabled viewing device: cellphone, laptop, PC, tablets and most smartphones.

For the product to work it must be within DVB-H coverage.

At purchase

• Drifta Device
• Battery
• USB cable
• Power Adapter

Features

• Broadcast Mobile TV on your PC, Smartphone or Tablet
• Connects to your device via Wi-Fi or USB
• Access the Mobile TV Guide
• Small, light-weight and ultra portable
• Rechargeable with up to three hours of viewing

Discontinued decoders

These are decoders which DStv no longer produces:

• HD PVR, a decoder that had 2 versions, one that could record 1 channel and watch 1, the other could watch 1 while recording 2 channels.
• SD PVR, DStv’s first personal video recorder which allowed to view two and record one concurrently. It was manufactured by Altech UEC and has XtraView capability with the HD PVR.
• Dual-View decoder is a decoder which allowed two separate viewing environments. It was manufactured by Altech UEC.

Slogans

• 1995-2014: So much more
• 2014–present: Feel every Moment

References

1. "MultiChoice lifts satellite pay-TV subscriber base to almost 8 million DStv subscribers". Retrieved 2015-06-30.
2. "our-history". naspers.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
3. "DStv launches new bouquet, channels". Businesstech.co.za. 2013-03-19. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
4. "DStv – more subscribers, more money". mybroadband.co.za. 25 June 2013.
5. "DStv Explora to Revolutionise TV in SA - detail". Multichoice. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
6. Archived 8 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• DStv homepage
• DStv Africa homepage
• GOtv Africa homepage