Last year, when Game of Thrones was on, M-Net cleverly chose to broadcast the show a week behind the US premiere. This year, when Fox aired The Walking Dead, it aired a day behind the American broadcast.
I was like, "Finally, DSTV is learning that in this age of torrents, Pirate Bay, online streaming and social media you can't keep popular shows on the back-burner after their US broadcast."
Yes we understand it's more expensive to get the rights of a show closer to the broadcast but popular shows have such a massive following that you are bound to either watch it online or be bombarded with Tweets and Facebook messages of what's happening in the show.
Yet, alas, for whatever strange reason someone at M-Net/ DStv thought a two week gap between the US and South African broadcast of Game of Thrones is good, like seriously!? Two weeks!?
If you've been reading up online or streaming episodes, you know that a lot has already happened in those two weeks. It's gotten so bad that you just have to stay off social networks if you don't want to know what's happening "for the web is dark and full of spoilers".
So, in an ever-globilized and connected world ... do we still need DSTV? If they are going to air shows so late, whilst you can stream an entire episode and sometimes a full season without having to wait two weeks - why pay the over- R600 subscription fee? With the same amount you can get a decent internet deal and the world is your oyster?
I wonder if guys like DStv are really thinking about it 'cause the more I think of it, the only reason one needs DStv is for the sports channels. Otherwise everything they show is available online.
As broadband gets more and more accessible and as the pricing of going online reduces every year, I believe the future will be online instead of sitting and waiting for a show you could watch within 24-hours after its US or Japanesse premiere.
The times have changed but has DStv caught up with the times? It can't just be a price issue, DStv has a monopoly over the continent, the guys are raking in the money but why do they make us wait? Watch this space ... in a few years subscriptions will go down ... it's only a matter of time.
Game of Thrones Season 4 starts this Friday (18 April) on M-Net.
Editor's note
Please note: TVSA does not condone the illegal download of copyrighted material.