This week, Naspers-owned MultiChoice announced its DStv subscriber base had passed the five million-mark and that it was seeing an average of 529 000 movie rentals per month through its content-on-demand offering, BoxOffice.
With about 95% of the pay-TV market, MultiChoice by far holds the monopoly - although there are a handful of hopefuls out there that seem determined to change this. However, analysts say chances of a market shake-up anytime in the near future are slim.
These are the developments that have taken place over the years, since DStv got its foot firmly in the door, becoming SA's first pay-TV player - nine years after the launch of MNet analogue TV.
* 1986: The launch of MNet analogue TV, SA's first private subscription television network.
* 1992: MultiChoice's involvement on the African continent begins with the introduction of an analogue service, launched to over 20 African countries.
* 1995: The DStv (Digital Satellite TV) service is launched with an enhanced channel offering. A first in SA, this was also the first direct-to-home digital pay-TV service outside the US.
* 2002: Launch of interactive TV (weather and news).
* 2003: Dual-view decoder launches.
* 2005: The DStv SD personal video recorder (PVR) decoder is launched. MultiChoice claims this was the first dual-view PVR in the world and the first PVR in Africa.
* 2006: DStv Mobile trial service launches, offering new mobile entertainment services through products like cellphones (Sagem and Samsung) and, later, other devices.
* 2008: Launch of the HD PVR (Pace 4tuner). The first HD satellite-delivered content in sub-Saharan Africa is made available on this PVR starting with the Beijing Olympics.
* 2010: Digital video broadcasting (DVB) over IP is pioneered in Africa to select gated communities using an IP capable decoder and later a PVR;
DStv's CatchUp service is launched during the year, on SD and HD PVRs, using content delivered via satellite to the local hard drives of subscribers' PVRs.
DStv Mobile launched the Drifta in the same year.
* 2011: BoxOffice is launched with consumers renting latest-release movies, delivered to the hard drive via satellite.
Digital terrestrial TV using DVB-T2 standard is launched across Africa. DStv Mobile launches the Drifta USB and the Walka 3.5.
* 2012: DStv Mobile launches the iDrifta and the Walka 7.
* 2013: Launch of the DStv Explora decoder with a 2TB hard drive over which an expanded CatchUp and BoxOffice service is offered to subscribers in SA. DStv Mobile launches the Drifta for Android.
* 2014: Box Office will be rolled out onto the African continent and MultiChoice says the Explora's pipe to the Internet would be opened by the end of the year.
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