Showmax Pro, the streaming service launched in mid-2020 that has seen sports fans across the African continent enjoy them on the Showmax platform alongside other entertainment and live content like news, is shutting down.
“With the upcoming relaunch of Showmax, our sport offering will focus exclusively on the Premier League, the most popular football league on the continent, and Showmax Pro in its current form will be phased out by 30 November 2023,” a statement by Showmax targeted at the service’s subscribers reads.
The statement makes reference to a long-awaited overhaul of Showmax, the subscription-based streaming video-on-demand service that was launched back in 2015. In the expected overhaul, announced earlier in the year, Multichoice, Showmax’s parent company, is teaming up with American media conglomerate NBCUniversal and British media powerhouse Sky to roll out a new streaming experience for its subscribers on the continent and beyond.
Both Sky and NBCUniversal are expected to add value to Showmax by supplying technology and content to the streamer’s subscribers.
In the case of NBCUniversal, which has since acquired a 30% stake in Showmax leaving Multichoice with the remaining majority share of the pie at 70%, it will offer the technology that powers its Peacock streaming service in the United States and a handful of other international markets (in Europe) in addition to content. Sky, which shares a parent with NBCUniversal in Comcast, is onboard for the content.
Showmax has been asking some of its subscribers to help it give the new streaming platform a spin, a pointer that we are not too far from it going public.
So, now, what happens to you if you’re a Showmax Pro subscriber at the moment?
Well, Showmax says that they won’t charge you when your subscription comes up for renewal next month (October). The service will be effectively unavailable for subscriptions from October 1st and won’t charge subscribers after October 30th.
Existing Showmax Pro subscribers will be transitioned to DStv Stream.
DStv Stream is Multichoice’s new online streaming platform for DStv. It is what we have previously known as DStv Now and, at some point after they dropped the “Now” moniker, what was just known as DStv and is accessible on the web and via various apps on various platforms (Android, iOS, Android TV, PlayStation, Xbox, several TV platforms like Hisense’s VIDAA, Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s Web OS, etc). The difference between those past iterations and Stream is that with Stream, subscribers don’t need to have registered for physical hardware (a dish and decoder) in order to access live content as well as on-demand content from DStv’s expansive catalogue. They can just sign up online, pay and get going. Previously, DStv’s online offerings were tied to existing legacy subscriptions.
In South Africa, existing Showmax Pro subscribers will be offered access to DStv Compact Plus Stream at the same cost as their Pro subscription in order to keep most of their live sporting (and other) content. Elsewhere on the continent where DStv Stream is available, including in Kenya, existing Pro subscribers will be offered DStv Stream packages that are of similar pricing to their Showmax Pro subscription.
Showmax says that the reason for the difference in how Showmax Pro subscribers in South Africa are being treated compared to the rest of the continent is based on the offerings in its home market by the time of the service’s termination. Showmax Pro has offered subscribers in the South African market access to some exclusive offerings like the UEFA Champions League (which is usually available on DStv Compact Plus), something they don’t offer Pro subscribers elsewhere on the continent.
DStv Stream deals are also available in Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Showmax says.
At this time, Showmax Pro mobile subscribers are not part of the transitioning conversation and will have to figure out themselves over the next month.
