The friendly folks over at fin24.com report that Netflix has officially launched their online streaming services to be available in South-Africa. The big announcement was made by CEO Reed Hastings yesterday amidst some heavy rumours that the online platform giant will be taking on the market dominated by Africa’s premium content provider, DSTV (Multichoice R699 pm Premium Package) . We are easily entertained by the idea of paying a fraction of the cost to make use of the service which has gained popularity across the globe, but is it worth it to switch over to Netflix if you are a paying DSTV customer?

Happy New Year South Africa - Netflix Launched Since January 06, 2016!

Happy New Year South Africa – Netflix Launched Since January 06, 2016!

Let’s have a quick look at the prices announced for the online service (via mybroadband):

Plan Price Resolution Screens
Basic $7.99 (R126) SD 1
Standard $9.99 (R158) HD 2
Premium $11.99 (R190) HD / UHD 4
Exchange rate: R15.83/$

Mmmm….there is reason to be excited but one can’t deny the cost implication for South-Africans to coughing up for additional data to make use of the online streaming service. Sports lovers will most likely stick with DSTV because of their large selection of sports channels, while series and movie geeks might be swayed to consider the new online service offering. But there seems to be a “catch” for lack of better words…

The online community over at mybroadband have already started to speculated and investigate to see what is being offered as eye candy, and it seems that Netflix SA is coming up a tad short.

netflix-002

Example:

Thanks to Japie we have an idea what content Netflix is not offering in SA, here is what he had to say:

“Netflix is now officially available in South Africa, but don’t get
too excited, as this is a very much watered down version compared to
Netflix USA.

Many old classics and current hit shows is nowhere
to be found on Netflix SA. The most obvious reason would be Multichoice
having the current licensing for these shows (my opinion).”

“I did a quick comparison and found the following popular Netflix USA shows missing from the Netflix SA offering…..”

  • Hawaii Five-0
  • Person of Interest
  • Helix
  • The Office (US)
  • Lost
  • Prison Break
  • iZombie
  • Breaking Bad
  • Bomb Girls
  • Blue Bloods
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Battle Creek
  • Baby Daddy
  • American Dad
  • Family Guy
  • Airwolf
  • About a Boy
  • 30 Rock
  • Gotham
  • Ally McBeal
  • 3rd Rock From the Sun
  • Madam Secretary
  • MacGyver
  • Melissa & Joey
  • New Girl
  • NCIS
  • CSI: Miami
  • CSI: New York
  • Glee
  • Californication
  • Chuck
  • Dallas
  • Dollhouse
  • Drop Dead Diva
  • Nurse Jackie

“And there is many more !!!
The few good shows that are available in SA is a Season or two behind Netflix USA, like…
The Blacklist, Elementery and Arrow.

It is also worth noting that none of the Disney programs are on Netflix SA and that in it self is a long list.”

 

While the jury is still out we will wait a couple of months to see what Netflix has to offer before we jump in with both feet. Any geeks out there excited to see Netflix join the race for our attention?

Here is the Netflix link