Vodacom has announced that it will broadcast the 2018-19 FA Cup through its Video Play service. Vodacom users who have Video Play will be able to live stream games from 26 January until the final on 18 May.

“Without the obligation of a monthly pay-TV subscription, Vodacom customers will have access to live, delayed-live, or catch-up to all their favourite teams in the FA Cup, including highlights and clips from as little as R35 a game from any device of their choice,” said Vodacom.

I'm still convinced that the model for sports broadcasting has to (will) change away from subscribing to a fixed broadcasting service. Because Multichoice holds a monopoly on sports broadcasts in South Africa is getting away with locking (especially sports) subscribers into its expensive scheduled pay TV services (take it all or leave it model). I can see more ISPs and Telecoms providers doing sports deals like this and offering it to their subscribers.

What I don't like is being tied into Vodacom or having to have it tied to my Vodacom airtime account (even though I am actually a Vodacom customer). I just want to keep my streaming separate and distrust lumping too many value adds in with the CLI add-ons, itemised billing costs, etc. Why not cast the net a bit wider.

A real pity too that it is geographically restricted to South Africa (you must turn your phone's GPS top verify). I know where this comes from but the model is so archaic and gets inherited from slicing and dicing copyright rights between countries, and the industry wanting to resel the same thing over and over again. It also usually has the net effect of eliminating any competition in the same region.

From a pure technology perspective, I like that sport is opening up more to streaming in South Africa (although I don't watch any sport).

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/292024-vodacom-to-livestream-english-fa-cup-how-much-it-costs-to-watch-a-game.html

#southafrica #sport #FACup #streaming #VideoPlay #Vodacom #Broadcasting

Instead of working together this big media house chooses to kill off innovation. On the face of it, it does not sound like the 3rd party service was circumventing any controls around paid subscriptions. In fact, it could have even made it easier for subscribers to watch the content they are paying for. It's the attitude... and this is how MultiChoice thinks it will stop subscribers migrating away to streaming services...

Irdeto, on behalf of MultiChoice, has issued takedown requests to shut down Kodi add-ons for Showmax and DStv Now.

The add-ons were created by Matt Huisman, a developer in New Zealand. TorrentFreak reported that the add-ons did not rip content from MultiChoice’s video services and where aimed at legitimate subscribers who had to log in with their credentials to use the apps.

Despite Huisman complying and indicating that he had no intention to contest Irdeto’s demands, the company lodged a complaint with PayPal – which terminated Huisman’s account.

Huisman did not charge for the add-ons and they were available as free downloads.

See more detail at https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/291506-multichoice-kills-third-party-dstv-now-and-showmax-kodi-add-ons.html?source=newsletter

#multichoice #kodi #streaming #paytv #southafrica #Denuvo #DStv #DStvNow #Headline #Irdeto #MattHuisman #MultiChoice #Naspers #paypal #Showmax #Broadcasting

South Africa's MultiChoice kills third-party DStv Now and Showmax Kodi add-ons

Instead of working together this big media house chooses to kill off innovation. On the face of it, it does not sound like the 3rd party service was circumventing any controls around paid subscriptions. In fact, it could have even made it easier for subscribers to watch the content they are paying for. It's the attitude... and this is how MultiChoice thinks it will stop subscribers migrating away to streaming services...

Irdeto, on behalf of MultiChoice, has issued takedown requests to shut down Kodi add-ons for Showmax and DStv Now.

The add-ons were created by Matt Huisman, a developer in New Zealand. TorrentFreak reported that the add-ons did not rip content from MultiChoice’s video services and where aimed at legitimate subscribers who had to log in with their credentials to use the apps.

Despite Huisman complying and indicating that he had no intention to contest Irdeto’s demands, the company lodged a complaint with PayPal – which terminated Huisman’s account.

Huisman did not charge for the add-ons and they were available as free downloads.

See more detail at https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/291506-multichoice-kills-third-party-dstv-now-and-showmax-kodi-add-ons.html?source=newsletter

#multichoice #kodi #streaming #paytv #southafrica