MultiChoice is looking to launch a bigger and better brand-new "connected box" DStv decoder sometime during the first quarter of 2013 which will have much more hard drive space to store TV content and a bigger selection of DStv Catch-up shows as well as - depending on subscribers' internet speed - things like Apple's iTunes.
MultiChoice's head of content Aletta Alberts said DStv's new "connected box" - meaning a DStv decoder which has an internet connection - will further enhance time-shifted viewing possibilities and give subscribers and viewers even more options.
Aletta Alberts was part of the panel of experts this afternoon when Discovery Networks unveiled its groundbreaking new research report, The Rise of TV Everywhere Audience.
The qualitative research done by Discovery Insights, Discovery's research division, under thousands of respondents in South Africa and 9 other countries, probed the changing nature of TV consumption and how people are watching television as digital devices proliferate and social media interaction grows.
Aletta Alberts said "all of the broadcasters - and you will see us doing the same shortly - that all of your devices are sync'ed. You are watching something on the TV and you have to fly away, you can stop and on your iPad start exactly where you stopped."
The new "connected box" planned for the first quarter of 2013, will be able to hold more hours of Catch-up content" said Aletta Alberts and "if you have fast broadband" also things like iTunes.
Regarding the improved DStv Catch-Up service coming next year which will enable DStv subscribers to move even further away from linear watching of television, Aletta Alberts said "so we'll go from 20 hours of Catch-Up to a 175 hours I think in year one, and then take it from there. And if you have a fantastic broadband connection then you will be able to access other content as well from the same box."
"And then just to clarify, its not like people don't watch linear [television] anymore or exclude it completely. They still watch movies and live shows and all the live programmes on linear. And what often happens when people find something on Catch-Up, because they can't wait for the next episode to become available on the box, they will go and watch it live," said Aletta Alberts.
"It's kinda like the one thing is driving the other. The main thing is we don't see anywhere in the world - even in the US - where the [watching of] linear channels disappeared. It's almost becoming like a promotional window."
"The second thing is, it also depends on your lifestyle. Yes, if you're young you probably have more time available to search or you grow up with that search mentality. When people get older and they have children and they get busier, then they don't have all that time and its more like 'yes, I just want somebody to put a channel together for me'. I can still go and watch other things."
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