It’s official. Showmax will stop accepting new subscribers as of 31 March, before calling time on South Africa’s homegrown streamer on 30 April. That should leave you just enough time to binge whatever you’ve ignored on your watchlist now that it’s about to disappear. You know how folks don’t appreciate being able to breathe through both nostrils until they’re sick? Yeah, it’s like that. Kinda. But with Die Kantoor or Outlaws.
“Disappear” is a strong word. All that content is moving over to DStv. A spokesperson for MultiChoice confirmed “Showmax content on DStv will be available to Compact and Premium satellite and streaming-only customers via the DStv Stream app,” and will “live in a dedicated Showmax section within the app.”
The greatest Showmax?
“The move ensures award‑winning African stories remain widely available after the Showmax service closes,” they continued. “More movies and series will be added over the coming weeks.”
For the time being, Showmax subscribers don’t have to do anything. They will continue to enjoy the streamer as is until their subscription ends, or Showmax departs this life — whichever comes first. If subscribers are serious about keeping up with the series and movies on DStv, they will need to pay a little more than they do currently.
What2Watch: Die Kantoor
At the time of writing, a DStv Compact subscription (streaming-only) sets customers back R300/m, while satellite service costs R480/m. Premium only goes up from there. Showmax, on the other hand, charges R100/m for its Entertainment tier, bumping it up to R150/m when bundling Premier League football. Sure, you could argue that DStv offers far more content than Showmax ever has, but for those who only want that content, it’s a blow.
That may not be the case forever. We speculated that Canal+ would eventually bring its own streamer — the aptly named Canal+ — to South Africa when the time was right. And it looks like we were right. TV with Thinus confirmed as much (via EWN), stating “they plan to roll out Canal+ in a few months from now.” What that service will look like, and how much it’ll cost, are still unknown. It’s got to be cheaper than DStv, right? Right?
