Times Media has sneakily launched a video-on-demand offering that has beaten several larger entities - all of which are still at drawing board stage - to the finish line and is set to disrupt the pay-TV market, long dominated by DStv.
Times Media's Vidi offering has also proven it is possible to put video-on-demand (VOD) into people's hands at an affordable price, and make streaming work off connections as low as 1Mbps.
In the meantime, telcos are also itching to get into the space as part of a plan to push data offerings, which is increasingly an important revenue stream. Several mobile operators have outlined plans to deliver fibre and, on the back of that, triple- or quad-play, into people's homes.
Making it real
Telkom, which currently has 3.6 million fixed access lines and almost a million ADSL customers, has plans to own the digital home, but while it is rolling out fibre, it is still missing a key component: content. In February, it withdrew a tender seeking a VOD provider and said it would issue a new one based on a model more closely aligned to its "revised business strategy".
Similarly, Vodacom is also looking to play in this space, but is in talks with content providers, while MTN recently dipped its toe into this sector, launching a streaming music service on the back of an exclusive partnership with South African-based simfy Africa.
Swift Consulting CEO and tech blogger Liron Segev says Vidi has clearly beaten the others at the game, but competition will arrive "fast and furious". He says Times Media will have to make a big play to get as many users as possible, while the other players will either shift their plans up, or buy out Vidi. "They just made it real."
Vidi will disrupt the market and cause DStv - owned by rival publishing house Naspers - to pay attention because, although it will not take over from it, it offers people a viewing experience that is exactly what they want, at less than the premium price tag, says Segev.
Cheap at the price
Segev notes Vidi "came out of nowhere" and made VOD "real", going live with a big brand - Times Warner - behind it. The company has also come in at a low cost, at R149 per month for an unlimited subscription to a library of movies and TV series - or between R15 and R27 for on-demand content, he notes.
In addition, the service will function well on a 1Mbps line, and will stream HD at 4Mbps, while the Silverlight software used to play the movies adjusts the image based on the broadband speed, notes Segev. He adds, however, that it does not make sense to run the service on mobile broadband, but rather uncapped ADSL as watching one episode of a series will chew up 500Mb of data.
Although the library currently only has more than 1 000 hours of TV series and over 100 movies, this will grow based on users' demands, says Segev. In addition, the app is already available for Android, and will shortly appear in the iStore, with more to be developed as people request, he notes.
Times Media was clever in its launch, because it does not tie people into contracts, costs the equivalent of a DVD a month (although the first month is free), and is simple to sign up for and use, comments Segev. Vidi - SA's legal equivalent to Netflix - is also streamed locally, offering better quality than what would be seen from international sites, he says. "You can literally sign up now and binge watch this until the end of the month and pay nothing."
Viewers can watch Vidi content on any device that can stream content, including PC, Apple Mac, laptop, Apple and Android tablets and smartphones, and can plug devices into TVs via the HDMI port.
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