DStv profiteering

THE housing complex in which we live has a MultiChoice/DStv business licence at a cost of R519p/m. We were previously on a Premium contract of R874p/m. Changing from one to the other has saved us R355p/m. But there are some limitations:

There are some 12 or more channels we cannot access. But we checked these out beforehand, and it was no great loss.

We have no access to Catch-Up. Again, this is of minor consequence. We cannot hire movies on Box Office. Now this I had a problem with. Maybe twice a month we’d download movies, at a cost of R35 each. This sum of money I was prepared to pay. However, I am told by MultiChoice that I cannot spend R35 per movie with them unless I migrate our account back to Premium, and pay them an extra R355p/m.

Having experienced two long and frustrating conversations with their call centre, I decided to take a trip to my local Vee’s Video, and see if I could find the movie I had been trying to hire from DStv.

They had the movie, and for the grand sum of R22, I rented it.

So, forgetting about the R355 premium to enjoy the dubious delights of the Premium contract, the stark contrast is that DStv charges R35 per movie, and Vee’s Video charges R22 for the same movie. That’s a 60% premium for a Box Office movie. Profiteering? Definitely! Message: Support your local video hire store. Robert Connell Somerset West