UPDATE: Showmax Pro will be live in South Africa from 19 August. It’ll cost R449 per month, while Showmax Pro Mobile will cost R225 per month.
The two most popular local streaming services, DStv and Showmax are similar enough (because they’re owned by the same company, of course) that consumers often need to think long and hard about what they want out of their entertainment, with DStv Now often holding a powerful card in the way of live sport through the SuperSport channels.
That advantage won’t be the case much longer as the Showmax Pro subscription service, launching in South Africa this week, will also offer live sports.
Being a good sport
Which is pretty excellent timing considering live sport is slowly starting to return around the world. Showmax Pro will offer users the standard bundle of movies and series you can find on lower tiers of the service, as well as a slew of international sports including the entire Premier League, La Liga, the PSL, professional boxing, global athletics tournaments and…well, that’s largely it. The downside to Showmax Pro is that it doesn’t include an exceptionally wide range of live sports, including golf, rugby, cricket and tennis.
So it sounds more like Showmax Pro-fessional Football, really.
Now, there have been rumours that the local version of Showmax Pro, which launches on 17 August, will include more local sports. As speculated by Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird, it is entirely possible that the announced line-up is just the general international collection of sports while the South Africa specific version may be more focused on local sports. One can only hope.
The only other question we have is how much it will cost locally. If we look at the price for International Showmax Pro, it comes in at $17.99pm, which roughly translated to R312pm at the time of writing. Fairly pricey, but those extra sports channels may justify the cost for some folks.
It’s about time Showmax Pro hit South Africa, given that 40 other countries already have the upgraded service. Multichoice has kept us in the dark so far. We’re expecting more details on pricing and sports coverage on Wednesday during Multichoice’s DStv showcase.
(Source: MyBroadband)