As the video streaming wars in South Africa are heating up Cell C black is dramatically cutting down on its month-long free trial period and changing its window-shopping option to now give a 7-day free trial period to its top-tier package, Binge Elite.
Instead of a free month on Cell C black Binge Select, Cell C black is giving 7 days on Binge Elite. A customer's payment details are not be required when signing up for Cell C black's trial period and there are no deductions.
Cell C black - offering a raft of linear pay-TV TV channels similar to DStv and StarSat, as well as a stack of library on-demand TV shows and film including new straight-of-the-circuit films - is changing its free trial access from today from a longer period on its entry level package to a much shorter period but on its most premium subscription package as it tries to rope in more potential new subscribers.
While still having a small subscriber base due to limited penetration and costly broadband in the country, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services in South Africa like Netflix South Africa, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax and others are expanding and steadily making inroads as a supplement service to traditional pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv, Deukom and China's StarSat/StarTimes.
These over-the-top (OTT) players - not just fiercely competing with traditional direct-to-home (DTH) pay-TV providers but also each other - are all working hard at constantly trying to sweeten the pot to attract the buzzy consumers and early adopters seeing streaming services and "binge-watching" as the hot new TV thing.
Cell C black is now making its entire range of content - except for movies available for rent - available for free for a week to potential customers who want to sample the range of content.
This includes its impressive range of over 60 linear TV channels, including premium channels like FOX, National Geographic, TNT, Fox Sports and others; and can stream watch or download content ranging from series including Empire, The Americans and Modern Family, to music, movies, sports, children's programming and documentaries.
"We want to offer consumers the full experience when they register on Cell C black," says Precious Nkabinde, Cell C black spokesperson. "The changes allowed for the quality of the package to be vastly better."
The free trial change from entry level to Cell C black Binge Elite is being implemented from today, 18 January.
"We are offering consumers the opportunity to trial the service before committing to a daily, weekly weekend or even monthly package. For 7 days, the service is open to people to watch what they want, when they want. This is a fantastic way to keep the budget in check while reviewing the content on the platform to see if it meets expectations," says Precious Nkabinde.
While the new trial offer is replacing Binge Select with Binge Elite, people who are currently in the middle of their trial period of Binge Select will continue to have access to this for the full 30 days free of charge.
