DTSV has released a product called BoxOffice. This might be a little early, but I want to look at how the game changing product will change the current landscape of South Africa’s economy.
Who is DSTV competing against?
There are a couple of ramifications that I can see immediately.
Franchise DVD Stores and Mom and Pop DVD stores. Most of the DVD stores that I used to go to were mom and pop owned DVD stores, where the service was great and the advice on movies was a personal recommendation. Those have all but closed, due in part to Blockbusters. At the franchise DVD stores you are just a number and the service is not great. So now, will box office, the people have been removed all together. So, I was upset by the mom and pop stores closing, but at least I had an alternative, but those will (in my opinion) be gone too, unless they can make it worth while.
Take out / Fast food Stores. Now this might be quite apparent, but when you get a DVD what do you also do? Well normally if I am going to get a DVD, then I might get take out too. Now in South Africa, if you go to Blockbusters DVD, then next door there is a Steers (Hamburgers) or a Debonnairs (Pizza). So if I now rent a movie from DSTV’s Box Office, the question is will I still get take out? Probably not.
Musica /and other DVD retailers. I haven’t bought a physical DVD in years, unless it is for someone’s birthday, or they have a new animated movie that I want to buy for friends who have kids. So I might not be the target market that is going to affected by this. But people are buying DVDs. Will this be affected? I am not sure.
Movie Theatres. I hate movie theatres. I am 6″6′ and the movie theatres don’t make seats big enough for me. So I bought a projector and all my DVDs and DSTV go through the projector. This means my TV is 2.5m wide. I don’t need to go to a cinema, unless I really want to. I can pause and talk if needed. I can go to the bathroom if needed. Cinemas are old, and they rip you off with the food. I am not very sad about this.
How will this change the economy?
Well if the large retailers, like Musica, and Blockbusters go out of business or even have to down size, this will affect a lot of people and their jobs.
Obviously this will also affect the bottom line of DSTV, which will go up. That is at least good. So they will pay more tax to the South African government, so will that improve the lives of people? But there is the loss of the tax from the stores that will close or down size. Closing down an entire industry for one company to get wealthy is wrong in my opinion.
I am not sure how this got through without the competition commision getting involved. Shutting down an entire industry for the benefit of one company must be against some rule.
Does this mean that I won’t use the service? Nope, but I will feel guilty about it.
What do you think about this new service? Will you use it?
