Can NetFlix replace my DSTV

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 20, 2018 at 21:30:1:

I'm a DSTV subscriber in Nigeria and this is a satellite cable tv subscription service that is available in many parts of Africa. Before DSTV, many Nigerians like me had other options for getting entertained on TV such as by subscribing to other Pay TV services, watching Videos or just sticking to local TV stations which are free. I have to confess that of all the the Pay TV services that I've seen, none of them has been as good as DSTV and that's probably why they have remained a success story in many states of Nigeria where they are available.

With internet services becoming faster and readily available in major cities across Nigeria, I've come to have access to more options for entertainment such as TV streaming on many internet sites of which YouTube is the most popular. Recently, NetFlix also became available to many Nigerians and I have to say that considering their monthly subscription rates, they are quite cheaper than having to visit a cinema to watch a movie. Infact, their subscription rates on Netflix in Nigeria is at most $12 and this is also quite cheaper than DSTV's cheapest or most affordable subscription plan which goes for.

The cost of watching a movie at a public cinema in Nigeria is about N1500(about $4) and the cost of a DSTV cable tv subscription is at least N1900(about $5.20. However, the total cost of watching Netflix in Nigeria is probably why many Nigerians would rather stick to DSTV and this is because the cost of internet data is quite high and one can only get it on a fixed cost if he/she pays a much higher cost such as one that would offer unlimited data.

An unlimited data internet subscription on Smile 4G's plan for instance costs about N20,000 per month and this can be quite ok for watching Netflix on a daily basis for 1 month and that already would increase the cost of watching Netflix in Nigeria to about N24500 per month. A premium service on DSTV in Nigeria is just N15000 per month. Would cost be the only thing that would make me dump Netflix for DSTV? Not necessarily.

In terms of cost ,I have to admit that DSTV is quite cheaper or more affordable than Netflix and they also offer more options such as reality tv channels and news as well as local tv stations. For movie lovers however, they'd find that they'll find more movies and tv services on Netflix than they'll do on DSTV.

This month, I just decided to subscribe to Netflix for a month so I can watch some movies and tv series because of a couple of reasons.

One of the first reasons why I dumped DSTV for Netflix was becasue I wasn't getting access to a lot of movies on DSTV. I felt restricted and some movies were even repeated. I've even watched movies on DSTV box office but it wasn't enough. I just needed a wider base and this is what I got on Netflix. They seem to have a much bigger database of movies you can watch several times without having it getting expired or never repeated after a couple of hours.

A second reason I switched to Netflix is because I wanted to avoid the commercial adverts. Yes, there are a lot of adverts on DSTV when watching movies or TV series and those interruptions can at times be annoying. I just wanted to watch movies without having to see adverts.

Thirdly, I wanted to avoid the Error signals I normally get DSTV. For those who know DSTV, there are many times your access to the prepaid service gets interrupted for hours or more such as during bad weather, signal errors or downloads. I don't want the downtime for something I've already paid for and I get this from Netflix as I get access to it as long as my internet service is ok. With Smile's 4G service, this has been satisfactory for me.

A 4th reason I chose Netflix over DSTV this month is because I just wanted something different. I've been watching DSTV for many years now and I feel I've been restricted for a while so I just needed a different thing to watch.

Do I miss DSTV? Well, I do a bit but in reality, the only thing I miss are the news channels such as NTA, AIT, Channels and CNN. I also miss the sports channels but I hardly had time to watch DSTV except in the evenings or weekends due to work.

I can still get my news from the internet by vising local and foreign websites so as to stay informed. I've been watching a TV services on NetFlix called "The Flash" for a while now and I'm almost through with watching all the episodes on Season 1. I have to say that it can at times be addictive but one would be overwhelmed by the number of movies Netflix has. If you are a movie or TV series lover, you will love Netflix.

Will I switch back to DSTV? I think yes because of the cost and also because I can't just keep on watching only movies. I miss live TV and News. I may still subscribe to Netflix but it won't be with a full internet service plan as I earlier did.