For all intents and purposes, MultiChoice’s DStv is without a doubt the de facto go-to Pay-TV company in Africa. But hold your horses. Fellow Southern African media giant, Kwese TV, has also finally come of age and grown wings, wishing to stretch their coverage continent-wide. In a battle between Kwese TV vs DStv, the winner is a foregone conclusion. Kwese is queuing up alongside the likes of Star Times, Azam, and Zuku among others for a chunk in the community cooking pot.
Unlike other competitors, however, Kwese TV comes with a novel approach as they slingshot their way into battle against DStv’s Goliath. Allow us to break down for you the pros and cons of the service and bouquets these two heavyweights have on offer.
Kwese TV vs DStv: The Pros and Cons
For starters, where DStv packages their channels into bouquets. You can choose between Premium, Compact, Compact Plus, Family and Access. As for Kwese, they don’t even bother. What you get is the lump sum; the very best Kwese TV has to offer in one premium bouquet. When you look at DStv, the quality and quantity of the channels. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on which end you’re looking. At least with Kwese TV, you are sure there’s nothing you are missing out.
You know how it is that you subscribe for a month on DStv, but holding down an 8-to-5 job means that you only watch a few hours tops a day? At the end of your subscription, you can count the days you enjoyed your Pay-TV on your fingers. Kwese’s game plan, in contrast, is to let you subscribe only when you are in position to watch some quality home entertainment. Both subscriptions have their merits and demerits as we are going to see. The list is long and winding, but this ought to give you a glimpse at what you have in store.
Kwese TV vs DStv Compact (Comparable bouquets)
Let’s be honest now. You can’t fairly compare Kwese TV with a monolith like DStv which has had a headstart of more than 2 decades. And yet, we also can’t simply disregard Kwese, newly hatched and already brawling with the big dogs. For this reason, we will cut DStv to its individual parts and size those next to what Kwese TV has on offer.
When you are to carefully think about it, Kwese TV’s Standard bouquet is comparable to DStv Compact. Subscription for both bouquets is roughly $30 a month. Kwese wins this round for giving an option to pay a 3-day or a 7-day subscription. This deal is much, much more pocket-friendly, I might add.
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DStv Compact has about 160 channels to about 60 on Kwese TV. Of those, Kwese offers 5 HD channels for those with HD-capable TVs. Not to be outdone, DStv Compact offers a few more HD channels than Kwese. How sweet is that deal, more so, as you get 100 extra channels? However, you might need to scratch the surface a little bit. The quality of the channels matters more than quantity.
Let me sour that a bit more for you. You might need to dig deeper in your pocket to be able to enjoy PVR on DStv Compact. The default decoder does not come with this capability, which is a bummer. As for Kwese TV, the decoder comes ready to PVR provided you connect a hard drive. Booyah
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For a more in-depth comparison of Kwese TV vs DStv, we present you the content in a table. Read on!
Criteria | DStv | Kwese TV |
---|---|---|
Subscription time-frame | 30-day lump sum | 30-days 7-days 3-days |
*Pricing (Approximated, varies by country) | Premium ~$75 Compact Plus ~$50 Compact ~$30 Family ~$18 Access ~$11 | 30 days ~$28 7 days ~$9 3 days ~$5 |
PVR availability | PVR on select decoders at extra cost | PVR on all decoders at no extra cost |
Bouquet /Packages | Premium Compact Compact Plus Family Access Easy View | 1 standard bouquet |
Freebies | No complimentary access for new subscribers | Complimentary 30-day access for new subscribers |
Extras | Can watch on more than one TV (XtraView) | Can only watch on one TV at a time. |
Payment options | Mobile Money/USSD Direct Debit Online banking Remittance Payment Cash at DStv offices | Mobile Money/USSD Direct Debit Online banking Cash at Kwese Eco shops Ecocash Bond Notes |
HD Channels | M-Net M-Net Edge M-Net Movies Premiere M-Net Movies Comedy M-Net Movies Family M-Net Movies Action+ M-Net Movies Romance M-Net Movies Showcase Studio Universal Vuzu Amp Universal Channel Discovery Channel ITV Choice FOX kykNET Mzansi Magic BBC Earth etv SuperSport HD 1 SuperSport HD 2 SuperSport HD 3 SuperSport HD 4 SuperSport HD 5 SuperSport HD 6 SuperSport HD 7 | NBA TV ESPN Kwese Sports 1 Kwese Sports 2 Kwese Prime |
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