That big rebrand that Showmax promised us last year has finally arrived. For most users in Kenya and across the 44 countries on the African continent where the streaming video-on-demand service has a presence, they will start to experience it (new logo and all) from 23rd January when the new app goes live on the respective app stores.
Showmax says that the launch of the new Showmax and its apps is staggered so some users can expect it to show up any time between next week and early February.
The launch of the new Showmax comes barely a year since Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky acquired a stake in the streaming service and promised a new platform alongside a fresh and expanded content portfolio.
As had been promised with the shuttering of Showmax Pro, Showmax has reworked its live entertainment offerings, especially live sports, and introduced a new Showmax Premier League tier. The tier costs Kshs 500 standalone and is mobile only. One cannot watch the Premier League on a PC, TV or other streaming box where the Showmax app is available.
Subscribers can bundle the Showmax Premier League package with the Entertainment package. That bundling can be for mobile-only access for the Entertainment package, which is cheaper at Kshs 700 or for any compatible device, costing Kshs 300 more to stand at Kshs 1,000. In whichever case, it is important to note that the ability to stream Premier League games live remains exclusive to mobile.
Standalone, if one just wants to watch movies and TV shows on Showmax and doesn’t care to bundle it with live Premier League action, they’ll pay Kshs 650 to do that on any compatible devices and just Kshs 300 to do that only on their mobile device.
Mobile-only packages can only be viewed on one (mobile) device at any given time while packages that are for use on any device can be accessed by, at most, 2 devices concurrently.
The content is available at a maximum resolution of 1080p across all subscription tiers and on all compatible devices.
In a nutshell
- Yes, you can stream the Premier League on Showmax but this is limited to just mobile devices. You can’t do the same on a TV or streaming stick/box or PC, like you would with Showmax Pro. Showmax Pro is dead and gone.
- The only live sport on offer at this point is football – the (English) Premier League. No other leagues, no other sports. Need to watch La Liga? Formula 1? Get DStv Stream instead.
- Essentially, what you are getting with the new Showmax is live Premier League streaming in a package and TV shows and movies in another. There are options to combine the two as outlined above but, even then, the live Premier League can only be enjoyed on a mobile device.
