Naspers launches Netflix competitor

What sounds like heaven to the rest of my household, is pure hell to me!

DSTV executives may also feel less than excited about the news that Naspers has launched ShowMax, a local competitor to internet streaming service Netflix, in what certainly seems to an outsider like competition from within – especially since a premium subscription costs just R99.

Television shows on the service range from cult series Game of Thrones, British favourites ’Allo ’Allo and Black Adder, classic Hollywood sitcoms including Will & Grace and Friends, Afrikaans content such as Orkney Snork Nie!, saucy lesbian favourite The L Word, and crime blockbusters CSI and NCIS as well as the wonderfully quirky Fargo.

News24 has quoted ShowMax general manager John Kotsaftis as saying that there were up to one million internet subscribers in South Africa who had sufficient bandwidth to use the service. “We’re at the cusp of a broadband explosion here in South Africa,” he said.

The service is at first targeting South African viewers but plans to launch into other markets later. The move by Naspers to launch ShowMax comes after Netflix, the American on-demand streaming service that is the ‘Hoover’ of the industry, said it was planning to expand into markets such as South Africa by the end of next year.

For R99 a month, subscribers to ShowMax Premium can enjoy unlimited access to movies and series. After a seven-day trial one might expect many movie and series fans trading in their DSTV subscription of quite a few hundred rands a month to sign up here for R99. A limited selection of local favourites and kids classics is available for free, in what a cynic might describe as a gateway. Free TV like free sweets and wine might just be a step on to the slippery slope for many TV addicts. - ANA