Following its recent announcement of new channels on DSTv, the pay TV company has plunged into the Video on Demand market (VOD).
According to the Business Daily, the company is set to launch a VOD service. VOD is one of the expected revolutions to the digitization of broadcast currently happening in Kenya and in other parts of East Africa.
Video on Demand services enables viewer to watch preloaded video content right from the broadcaster’s servers. This largely eliminates the use of recording material for the viewer.
VOD is a big thing in the western countries. Services such as Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand service, Hulu, Vudu and many others have revolutionize how viewers get access to recorded material.
In June this year, it is reported that Netflix subscribers watched more than 1 billion hours of content, just to show how popular the service is.
In Africa, one company IrokoTV is gaining traction in their VOD service. The company features Nigerian movies at free and paid accounts. The service has gotten global attention receiving funding from foreign investment companies.
From October 1, DSTv will offer this new service to its new and old subscribers, hoping to be competitive in the market. The company has also rearranged the bouquets to a more predictable set. The new channels the company has launched will witness this.
Digital broadcasting shift is expected to fully take place by December this year. This has seen several companies set up shop to benefit from the switch.
StarTimes, a Chinese based digital broadcaster opened their shop in Kenya earlier this year. Their offering is currently the lowest in the market with their decoder going for around Kshs 3,000 (US$35) and the lowest subscription fee at Kshs 500 (US$6) per month.
July last year saw DSTV launch BoxOffice, a video on demand service in South Africa. This gave subscribers opportunity to rent the latest Hollywood movies by the touch of a button.
