Man in a Van: Netflix ad pokes fun at DStv

Netflix is having a laugh — apparently at the expensive of MultiChoice’s DStv.

The US streaming giant posted a video on its social media channels, including Twitter and YouTube, on Monday in which it mocks DStv — without naming the company — about the supposed difficulties involved in installing a satellite-based television service relative to Internet streaming. Watch the video below.

The ad comes after repeated calls by MultiChoice executives for Netflix to face greater regulation in the country.

At Icasa hearings in May, MultiChoice South Africa chief operating officer Mark Rayner implored the communications regulator to level the playing field.

“Netflix is in South Africa, they are advertising here, they are marketing here. But it is important to note they don’t have staff or an office here,” he told Icasa councillors.

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Netflix and other international streaming companies “do not pay tax” in South Africa, Rayner said. They also don’t contribute levies to organisations such as the Media Development and Diversity Agency or underserviced area agency Usaasa and do not pay broadcasting licence fees. They are also not required to comply with local black economic empowerment regulations, local language quotas and skills development.

Rayner said the impact of Netflix and other streaming providers has been “ignored by Icasa” in its hearings into the pay-TV sector. Its discussion document, published ahead of the hearings, “does not pay enough attention to this impact”.  — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media