MultiChoice recently extended its Catch Up service to its DStv Compact and Extra subscribers with Explora decoders. Previously, it was only available to those on the Premium package.
DStv’s Catch Up lets subscribers watch episodes of series, movies, or sports events on-demand for a specific period.
The content available via Catch Up is dependent on the package a subscriber is on. Compact customers, for example, will see Catch Up content that has been screened on channels available on DStv Compact.
To get an idea of the differences between the three packages with Catch Up, as well as DStv Family which does not have Catch Up, we compared the channels available on each bouquet.
The prices of the four packages are as follows:
- DStv Premium: R699 per month
- DStv Extra: R425 per month
- DStv Compact: R319 per month
- DStv Family: R199 per month
Subscription fees exclude the DStv PVR access fee of R80 per month, which subscribers must pay to use their decoder’s PVR features – including DStv Box Office and Catch Up.
The table below shows the channels which are common on all four packages. Channels marked with an (*) are simulcast in high definition.
| DStv channels common between DStv Premium, Extra, Compact, and Family |
| Movies & Entertainment |
| Sony | AMC | Africa Magic Epic Movies | Universal Channel * | SABC Encore |
| Sony Max | KykNet & Kie | AfricaMagic Family | Telemundo | |
| CBS Reality | KykNet Musiek | AfricaMagic World | M-Net Movies Zone | |
| CBS Action | Mzansi Wethu | ZEE World | M-Net Family | |
| CBS Drama | Mzansi Bioskop | Glow TV | BET 2 International | |
| Documentaries & Lifestyle |
| VIA | The Home Channel | Nat Geo Wild | TRACE Sports Stars | ED |
| TLC | Fashion TV | Discovery World | Ignition TV | |
| Free-to-air |
| SABC 1 | SABC 3 | Soweto TV | 1KZN | Cape Town TV |
| SABC 2 | E-TV | Bay TV | Tshwane TV | Lesotho TV |
| Sport |
| SuperSport Blitz | SuperSport Select | TellyTrack | | |
| Kids & Teen |
| Cartoon Network | Nicktoons | JimJam | | |
| Boomerang | Disney Junior | Mindset | | |
| Music |
| Channel O | Mzansi Music | One Gospel | | |
| Religion |
| Dumisa | Faith | Rhema | iTV | |
| News & Commerce |
| BBC World News | Al Jazeera | CCTV News | BusinessDay TV | |
| SABC News | Russia Today | CNBC Africa | NDTV | |
| ANN7 | Parliamentary Service | Weather 24 | | |
Channels only available on Premium
The table below highlights the channels you get on each package above DStv Family.
Not shown are specialist and foreign channels, which are mostly limited to DStv Premium, as well as audio channels.
Some DMX audio channels are only available on DStv Compact and up, while all the radio stations available through DStv are on all packages.
| Compact and up | Extra and up | Premium only |
| Movies & Entertainment | Movies & Entertainment | Movies & Entertainment |
| M-Net Movies Action | Comedy Central | M-Net * |
| M-Net Movies Stars | E! Entertainment Channel | M-Net Edge * |
| Studio Universal | Fox * | M-Net Movies Premiere * |
| M-Net City | Fox Crime | M-Net Movies Comedy * |
| Vuzu | True Movies | M-Net Movies Family * |
| BBC Brit | KykNet | M-Net Movies Action Plus * |
| MTV | Africa Magic Urban Movies | M-Net Movies Romance * |
| Mzansi Magic | Documentaries & Lifestyle | M-Net Movies Showcase * |
| Ebony Life TV | Crime & Investigation | Vuzu Amp * |
| Documentaries & Lifestyle | Travel | ITV Choice |
| Discovery ID | History | BET International |
| BBC Lifestyle | Kids & Teen | Lifetime |
| Food Network | Nickelodeon | AfricaMagic Showcase |
| National Geographic | C-Beebies | Documentaries & Lifestyle |
| Animal Planet | Music | Discovery Channel * |
| Sport | VH1 Classic | BBC Earth |
| SuperSport 3 * | News & Commerce | Sport |
| SuperSport 4 * | Sky News | SuperSport 1 * |
| SuperSport 9 * | | SuperSport 2 * |
| Kids & Teen | | SuperSport 5 * |
| Disney XD | | SuperSport 6 * |
| Music | | SuperSport 7 * |
| MTV Base | | SuperSport 8 * |
| News & Commerce | | SuperSport Maximo |
| CNN | | Kids & Teen |
| eNCA | | Disney |
| | Nick Jr. |
| | News & Commerce |
| | Bloomberg |
