DStv launched their online version of the monthly Dish magazine more than a year ago and in June this year added one for Compact subscribers. In case you haven't tried it yet - or tried the early versions and gave up on it - the latest edition is probably worth your while.
Developed by content marketers New Media, the digital version of Dish is a lot slicker and more user-friendly than it used to be. It doesn't cover everything on the paycaster network, but offers a useful snapshot of highlights you might be interested in, with links to full schedules for everything.
The Premium edition is bi-weekly and the Compact one is monthly and each offers highlights of movies, series, entertainment shows, documentaries, lifestyle shows, sport and youth programming.
Using the menu at the bottom of the page (or the left and right arrows on either side) you can navigate through your areas of interest and click the various info boxes and related content highlights that pop up all over the place.
The Movies tab, for example, lists a Top 10 of movie premieres, with info on each. A nice touch is the "Related Genre" highlights you get with each movie, which gives an extra three movie premieres in a similar genre.
For example: movie highlight number eight in the current edition of Premium is Saw VI - if you click it you will see info about the movie and a box beneath it with three extra "dark horror" movies highlights. Clicking any of them will open an inset box with more info.
Particularly useful is the Extras tab in both editions - it provides links to the online TV guide (which you've probably got bookmarked anyway), but more importantly download links to PDF documents of the movie premieres guide and the weekly viewing schedules, which you can save and browse (or print) at your leisure.
Also useful in the Premium edition is the DStv on Demand tab. It's always a bit of a crap-shoot as to what is going to be offered on the service - this feature gives you a handy guide as to what will be on, and for how long it will be available.
As mentioned, Dish Digital isn't a complete guide to everything that's on, but more a way of quickly sifting through the mass of content that is offered each month.
If you haven't tried Dish Digital recently - or weren't aware that there was one for Compact - give it shot. Click the link below and when you arrive choose the edition you're interested in.
Dish DigitalWhat do you think of Dish Digital? Do you use it or do you prefer to wait for your monthly print edition?