MultiChoice and Netflix are cracking down on subscribers who share their accounts with people outside their households. However, the two companies are approaching the issue very differently.
DStv has opted for an immediate, restrictive approach limiting every account to a single stream at any given time.
It announced the change on 22 February and implemented it on 22 March. In addition to reportedly achieving its goals, the sudden change also came with side effects.
Soon after MultiChoice implemented the change, subscribers claiming to be legitimate customers flooded social media platforms with complaints.
Different models of TVs and smartphones were throwing an error in the Dstv app, saying users had exceeded their concurrent streaming limit, even though only one device was active on their account.
The single-device streaming limit also completely broke screencasting. Several months later, MultiChoice had still not fixed the feature.
Subscribers who relied on Chromecast or AirPlay to watch DStv had simply been cut off.
In the wake of the backlash, MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said that the change had been successful as they had seen an uptick in streaming subscribers after implementing the limit.
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He also said they were working on allowing more simultaneous streams.
MultiChoice South Africa CEO Nyiko Shiburi later revealed that the company was working on a “proximity control” system.
This would allow households to stream more than one video or channel simultaneously provided they were using supported DStv devices.
Netflix has taken a much different approach. It has tried to develop functionality matching how subscribers use the service, which they might be willing to pay for.
It launched a key piece of the puzzle last week Profile Transfer.
Source: My Broadband
