New Video On Demand service
VIDI launched earlier this month and today (25 September) DStv has announced that their movie rental service BoxOffice will now be available to Compact subscribers too. Previously it's only been available to Premium and Extra customers.
We have no doubt that the move is a direct response to the launch of VIDI which offers a movie rental service that's almost exactly the same as BoxOffice. VIDI has two services: a subscription service for TV shows and older movies and an instant rental service for newly released movies which has the same video shop set-up as BoxOffice.
Here's a comparison of the two:
| DStv BoxOffice |
VIDI |
| Movie selection: blockbuster movie titles that you'll see in the "New" section of DVD stores. |
Movie selection: blockbuster movie titles that you'll see in the "New" section of DVD stores. |
| Cost: R27 |
Cost: R27 |
| Requires a DStv subscription (Compact or above) and the R75 monthly PVR fee (for PVR functionality, Extra view, BoxOffice). |
No subscription required. |
| Movies download to the PVR directly or can be downloaded or streamed online. |
Movies are streamed online. |
| File sizes of movies are between 800MB and 1.5GB. |
File sizes of movies are up to 2GB. |
| First movie is free. |
Offers 30-day trial for the subscription service but no free instant rental movies. |
| Movie rental time: 48 hours. |
Movie rental time: 48 hours.
You have 30 days to watch the title but once you start watching, it expires after 48 hours. |
| Payment via credit card, top up or debit order (added to monthly DStv account). |
Payment via credit card. |
As you can see, where the one has an advantage in one area, the other has an advantage in another so it's no surprise that DStv's taken this move. In fact, you'd think they would have done it sooner considering there's more ka-ching in every movie rented out.