by Thinus Ferreira
A month from now, more than one viewer will no longer be able to login online using the same DStv account to watch DStv at the same time, if someone else is already watching - but what exactly does this mean, what is changing, and how will it work?
First off, nothing is changing if you're watching Showmax or have been using Showmax which is MultiChoice's video streaming service.
Nothing is changing if you're been watching DStv through a decoder, and nothing is changing if you have more than one DStv decoder, and they are connected with Xtraview in order to enable a multi-view environment (i.e watching different DStv channels on different screens at the same time).
What is changing, from 22 March, is that a live DStv channel won't "play" digitally on DStv/DStv Now/DStv Catch Up after you've logged in, if someone is already logged in on another device, into the same account and watching the same or another DStv channel already.
In other words, on the same DStv account it will no longer be possible for more than one person, on different devices, to watch TV and the same or different DStv channels at the same time.
MultiChoice is limiting watching DStv digitally to just one device at a time with this device being a laptop or mobile device, or even a Connected TV if you're watching DStv that way.
Watching multiple streams is known as "concurrent streaming" - more than one stream at the same time. MultiChoice is limiting concurrent streaming.
It will however still remain possible to watch content you've already downloaded on one device under a specific account, while watching a live DStv channel at the same time under that specific account on a different device.
DStv subscribers won't be allowed to watch the same or different live DStv channels at the same time on different devices.
If you're watching Mzansi Magic or eNCA or Nickelodeon digitally as a live TV channel as a DStv subscriber on a device, nobody else - even if they're logged in with the same account details - would be able to watch that same or any other TV channel as a live linear channel on another device.
Of course it will still be possible to watch a live DStv channel on a TV set connected to a DStv decoder, while someone is watching another DStv channel, using the same subscriber account, on a digital device.
Something else: It will still be possible to register up to 4 devices to watch DStv.
What is changing from 22 March is that only one of those 4 devices at a time will be able to be used to watch or stream live DStv content.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice Q&A on new DStv live-stream limit clampdown: No 'family plan' for DStv streaming.