Here is what I'm hearing, although at this stage I want to make it clear that it is unconfirmed: that a new third DStv Select package is coming with a new Select bouquet which would be introduced in February.
I've reached out to MultiChoice to ask whether the pay-TV operator can confirm whether there is indeed a new 3rd DStv Select bouquet on the cards and if that would be introduced in February this year.
"When we are ready to make an announcement around new products or services, we will do so," says MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry.
MultiChoice took over the management of the two DStv Select bouquets from Vodacom in October 2011.
MultiChoice currently has two DStv Select bouquets which are cheaper than both DStv Premium and DStv Compact and contains a selection of channels with a small channel variation between the two options, with the one making a differentiation for specifically Afrikaans subscribers.
I heard chatter in October 2012 for the first time from sources surrounding a possible new DStv bouquet.
At the time, one source put it to me exactly like this and said that "DStv wants to launch a new bouquet which would contain a few new channels but unfortunately we don't know how much the bouquet is going to cost." None of the sources then mentioned that it would specifically be a new DStv Select bouquet.
Coincidentally, around the same time, another source also said to me that the new kykNET Musiek channel (which launched in November 2012 on DStv Premium and DStv Compact) would be one of the channels included on a new bouquet in the future.
Now the chatter around a possible new bouquet has surfaced again. This time another source mentioned the word "Select" for the first time, saying that "in February 2013 a new Select package will be made available" and also that it would contain "exciting channels".
It's conceivable that should there ever be a new DStv Select bouquet - if MultiChoice ever rolls out a further Select bouquet and which it doesn't currently want to talk about - that it would be aimed and targeted at a new demographic at a lower price point which isn't currently being captured with commercial satellite television services.
At the moment it's unconfirmed and whether there is a new 3rd DStv Select bouquet in the works for 2013, time will tell.
