DStv Gives South African Select Subscribers Seven Days of Free Sports, Nigeria Left Out
By Aboki Forex —
MultiChoice is giving DStv Select subscribers in South Africa seven days of free access to its new DStv Sports package from September 29, 2026. No equivalent offer has been announced for Nigerian subscribers.
The free upgrade follows the launch of MultiChoice's new package line-up on September 17, part of the biggest restructuring of DStv products in about 15 years. The changes were announced by DStv's South African operating company on September 7, 2026, and took effect on Thursday, September 17.
How the free access works
Qualifying DStv Select subscribers who pay their monthly subscriptions in full and on time will automatically receive access to DStv Sports for seven days at the beginning of their new subscription period. No registration is required. Once the seven days expire, subscribers return automatically to their regular Select package. MultiChoice said similar benefits could be extended to other packages before the end of 2026 if the trial proves successful.
What is in the new sports bouquet
DStv Sports is the broadcaster's first dedicated sports package and comes with 17 channels. Subscribers can watch selected Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Betway Premiership matches, alongside cricket, UFC, WWE and local rugby. A standalone Movies & Series package was also introduced.
The bigger package shake-up
Under the South African restructuring, DStv Access customers were migrated to Starter, Family subscribers moved to Select, while Compact customers transitioned to Sports. The low-cost EasyView package remained unchanged.
One of the biggest changes involves existing Compact Plus customers. MultiChoice has effectively retired, or "grandfathered", Compact Plus for new customers, but existing subscribers have been automatically upgraded to DStv Premium without immediately paying the standard Premium price. Streaming customers continue to pay R549 monthly, while decoder subscribers pay R649, and both receive access to the full Premium bouquet. By comparison, the standard Premium package costs R799 for streaming-only subscribers and R979 for decoder customers in South Africa. MultiChoice said affected subscribers may continue seeing "Compact Plus" on their bills for now, with the arrangement operating on a month-to-month basis.
What it means for subscribers
MultiChoice CEO Willington Ngwepe described the restructuring as only the beginning of broader changes aimed at giving subscribers more value. "We'll continue to find ways to give customers more value from their DStv subscriptions," he said.
For Nigerian subscribers, the key distinction is that these specific packages, prices and free-upgrade offers are currently South African initiatives. MultiChoice has not announced an equivalent rollout for Nigeria, so the free sports window, the rand-priced Premium deals and the new bouquet names do not apply locally for now.