How to sign up for DSTV Streaming without the Dish and Decoder

Multichoice is currently piloting DSTV Streaming where you can access all DSTV channels and features without buying the Dish and Decoder. This has been a long requested feature – with customers challenging the entertainment giant to embrace the digital age.

As someone who completely streams everything, this sounds like a good thing. However, I’ve also never used DSTV. Didn’t have it growing up, haven’t also bothered getting it. So I may not understand if this will be a monumental feature for die-hard customers, or if it’ll be an experiment bound to fail.

Unlike with a decoder and a dish where you need the hardware to be installed in your house, with the streaming option, all you need is to follow a couple of prompts online, setup your account and start streaming through the DSTV App.

The DSTV App is available on all the major platforms including the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, the Huawei App Gallery, the Samsung TV Store, and other TV platforms. This means should you sign up, you’ll be able to watch from all these platforms. (People with the decoder and dish can also sign in to the DSTV app and stream from anywhere).

How to sign up for DSTV Streaming:

1. Visit this link: https://www.dstv.com/en-ke/campaign/dstv-streaming/
2. Click on ‘Get Started’ and choose a package that suits your needs
3. You’ll be re-directed to a new site, with the monthly price shown.
4. Click continue to go on to create an account with your email address phone number and password
5. Continue on to make payment
6. You will now have digital smart card number. You can use it or your email and password to sign in to the DSTV app.
7. Enjoy Live TV, pre-recorded shows, and movies from the DSTV app.

Benefits of DSTV Streaming:

1. Reduced acquisition cost as there’s no decoder or dish
2. You can stream from anywhere, even from a browser. You can even save stuff offline for later.

What doesn’t work:

Two things don’t make sense however. These are pricing and limits on viewership.

1. Pricing – You’re still paying the same amount for each package despite not accessing the content via a decoder and dish. You need to pay for internet yourself, meaning you’re incurring more costs unlike someone with the dish.
2. Limited access – Only one person can stream at a given time. And you can only sign in to 4 devices at a time. Which makes no sense. Streaming should allow for multiple users, say even 5 people at a go – that would make it easier for people to pool together and pay for a package.

New vs Old DSTv prices in Kenya:

Remember DSTV is increasing prices effective September:

Would you sign up?

I already pay for Showmax Pro which gives me access to not only TV shows like HBO’s House of the Dragon, but also live sport events and live TV. So, I don’t see myself necessarily using DSTV Streaming. I’ve had the Premium DSTV Package for a few days now, and I’ve only watched something once – a movie, not even live TV.

For football fanatics, the streaming option however could be the way to go. Instead of paying for a dish and a decoder, just pay for a package that has you covered and you’ll be enjoying streaming from anywhere.

I just wish streaming only packages would be fairer compared to hardware packages. But that won’t make sense either way for existing customers. Which makes me wonder if people will use the new service. Would you? Let me know.