A growing number of disappointed viewers and fans of The Bold and the Beautiful who tried to register on Vodacom Video Play to watch the soap that made its return on Wednesday after the struggling SABC dropped it in March this year, couldn't understand why they're not able to register and sign up for Video Play and getting a "register error".
It turns out that Vodacom only allows viewers to watch Video Play if they have paid to be a Vodacom customer.
In its initial statement issued by the WE South Africa PR company, Vodacom said that it has "secured the rights to stream the beloved TV show on its video-on-demand platform, Video Play. Now South African consumers will be able to stream the soap on their mobile devices, such as their smartphones, tablets and laptops".
Vodacom said that "consumers don't need to subscribe to any packages" because The Bold and the Beautiful, produced by Bell-Phillip Television Productions, "is FREE".
Vodacom made no mention that people who want to watch The Bold and the Beautiful must buy a Vodacom SIM card and have a valid Vodacom number in order to register on Video Play.
TVwithThinus asked Vinnie Santu, Vodacom spokesperson for comment about South African consumers saying that they can't register or watch The Bold and the Beautiful because they don't have Vodacom numbers. She said that "Video Play is exclusive to Vodacom customers".
Asked why this was not specified in the announcement, Vinnie Santu said "Video Play is Vodacom's entertainment platform, exclusive to Vodacom customers".
Rival Cell C doesn't restrict access to its struggling Cell C black streaming service to just Cell C customers, and neither does VIU, or any of the other major video streaming services available in South Africa like MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix South Africa or Amazon Prime Video.
