The most complete DStv package — and the most expensive. Here is exactly what R979 a month buys you, how it stacks up against Compact Plus, and who genuinely gets their money's worth.
The Verdict Up Front
DStv Premium is the top of the range: the fullest channel lineup MultiChoice sells, every SuperSport channel, all four M-Net Movies channels, and a bundled Showmax subscription on top. It is the package for households that want everything and do not want to think about which match is on which tier. It is also, at roughly R979 a month, one of the single most expensive TV bills you can pay in Southern Africa — which is exactly why it deserves a hard-nosed review rather than a spec sheet.
This review sits inside a larger picture. Premium only makes sense once you understand where it sits relative to the cheaper tiers, so it pairs naturally with the complete DStv guide, which lays out every package, price, and feature side by side. If you are still deciding whether Premium is even the tier you need, start there and come back — the short version is that Premium is worth reviewing carefully precisely because the step up from Compact Plus is the most expensive jump on the price list.
Throughout, the prices we quote are indicative 2026 South African rates. MultiChoice reviews them each April, and the exact figure varies by country and by whatever promotion happens to be running. Treat the numbers as a guide to the relationships between tiers rather than a fixed quote — the relationships are what drive the verdict.
The Package
Premium is defined less by a single headline feature than by the fact that nothing is held back. Every part of the DStv ecosystem that can be unlocked is unlocked. Here is what actually lands on your account when you subscribe.
Every dedicated SuperSport channel — the local Betway (DStv) Premiership, EPL, UEFA Champions and Europa League, LaLiga, Serie A and Bundesliga, Springbok rugby and the URC, Proteas cricket and the SA20, plus Formula 1, golf, and Grand Slam tennis. This is the full sports lineup that only Premium unlocks.
The complete M-Net Movies lineup — all four dedicated movie channels plus M-Net itself. Lower tiers get a trimmed movie selection; Premium is the only package that carries the full set of premiere and library film channels.
The included on-demand library of recent series, films, and shows that have already aired — available on the DStv app and Explora decoders at no extra cost. It turns Premium from purely live TV into something closer to a streaming service.
Access to the pay-per-rental store for recent cinema releases, rented for a set viewing window. BoxOffice titles are charged on top of the subscription, but Premium gives you the store front-and-centre for new-release nights.
A Showmax subscription bundled or heavily discounted with Premium — MultiChoice's standalone streaming service, with its own series, films, and (on some plans) Premier League football. On any other tier you would pay for it separately.
Premium pairs naturally with the flagship Explora Ultra — a 4K hybrid box that pulls channels off the satellite and streams over the internet, with Showmax and Netflix apps built in so everything lives in one place.
Add it together and Premium is a bundle rather than a channel list: 155+ live channels, an on-demand Catch Up library, a rental store, a linked streaming service, and a hybrid decoder that ties it all into one interface. For a household that genuinely uses all of it — daily live sport, movie nights, kids' channels, local drama, and Showmax bingeing — that is a lot of service in one bill. The question the rest of this review answers is how many households actually use all of it.
The Trade-Off
The fairest way to judge Premium is to lay the strengths and the costs next to each other. The left column is genuinely excellent and hard to replace elsewhere; the right column is the reason so many subscribers eventually question the renewal.
✓ What You Get
— What It Costs You
Neither column cancels the other out — that is the point of a review. Premium is objectively the best product DStv makes, and for a specific kind of viewer it is worth every rand. The catch is that the price is fixed regardless of how much of the bundle you touch, so the value swings enormously depending on your household's actual habits rather than the package's theoretical worth.
The Real Numbers
Premium costs roughly R979 a month — close to R11,750 a year. That annual figure is worth saying out loud, because a monthly debit order hides just how large the outlay is over twelve months. The more useful comparison, though, is not against zero but against the tier directly below it. Compact Plus sits at about R619 a month, so upgrading to Premium costs roughly R360 extra every month — around R4,300 a year. Here is precisely what that extra R360 buys.
| Factor | Compact Plus | Premium | The Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | ~R619 | ~R979 | +~R360 |
| Channels | 135+ | 155+ | +20 or so |
| SuperSport | Strong subset | Full lineup | Every remaining channel |
| M-Net Movies | Trimmed selection | All 1–4 + M-Net | The full movie set |
| Showmax | Not bundled | Bundled / discounted | The Showmax perk |
| BoxOffice | Access | Access | No change |
Stripped down, the extra R360 a month buys three things: the remaining SuperSport channels, the full M-Net Movies set, and the bundled Showmax perk. If you watch several sports at once — say football and rugby on a busy Saturday when Compact Plus runs out of concurrent channels — that upgrade earns its keep. If your teams are already covered by Compact Plus's strong subset, you are paying R4,300 a year mostly for movie channels and a Showmax subscription you might value at a fraction of that. Our full Compact vs Compact Plus comparison and the wider DStv packages and prices breakdown map out where each tier stops being worth the jump.
Buyer Fit
Premium is not overpriced or a rip-off; it is simply mis-bought a lot of the time. The single biggest determinant of value is how much live sport you watch and across how many channels at once. Here is the honest split.
✓ Genuinely worth it for
The multi-sport household that wants every SuperSport channel and often has two games running at once; film lovers who actually watch all four M-Net Movies channels; anyone who would pay for Showmax anyway and values the bundle; and homes that use Catch Up, BoxOffice, and the Explora Ultra's full hybrid feature set. For these viewers Premium is the most complete package in the region and earns its price.
— Probably overpaying if
You follow one or two teams that Compact Plus already carries; you rarely watch two matches simultaneously; you barely open the extra movie channels; or you never signed up for Showmax on its own. If most of your viewing is series, local drama, and the occasional big match, you are funding a lot of bundle you do not touch — and a downgrade or a cheaper alternative frees up real money.
A useful test is to look at last month's actual viewing rather than your intentions. Households almost always plan to use everything and end up watching a narrow slice. If your slice fits inside Compact Plus, Premium's extra R360 is buying reassurance more than content — and reassurance is an expensive thing to pay for twelve times a year.
The Score
DStv Premium
Complete, reliable, and expensive
7.5/10
Great product, price-dependent value
As a product, DStv Premium is excellent — it does more than any other package on the market, it is reliable, and its exclusive SuperSport and local content are genuinely hard to replace. As a purchase, it earns a qualified score because so much of its value depends on your habits: a committed multi-sport household should read it as a 9, while a light viewer on the same bill is closer to a 5. Averaged out across a typical buyer, Premium lands at a solid but not effortless 7.5 out of 10 — a strong service you should buy deliberately, not by default.
One more thing worth saying plainly: because Premium is such a large recurring cost, a growing number of households now put it to the test before every renewal rather than after. They keep the debit order paused for a cycle, or run a cheaper internet-TV option alongside it for a month, and see whether they actually miss what Premium adds. More often than not that quiet experiment is how people discover their real viewing fits a much smaller bill — which is exactly the kind of check this review is meant to prompt.
Common Questions
As of 2026, DStv Premium costs roughly R979 per month in South Africa — about R11,750 a year. It is the top tier and the most expensive bouquet. Prices are indicative, reviewed by MultiChoice each April, and vary slightly by country and any active promotions.
DStv Premium includes 155+ channels: the full SuperSport lineup, all four M-Net Movies channels, M-Net, the complete local and international entertainment bouquet, DStv Catch Up on demand, BoxOffice rental access, and a bundled or heavily discounted Showmax subscription. It also pairs with the Explora Ultra hybrid decoder.
For about R360 more per month, Premium adds every remaining SuperSport channel, all four M-Net Movies channels, and the bundled Showmax perk. It is worth it if you watch multiple sports across many concurrent channels or want the full movie lineup. If Compact Plus's strong sport subset already covers your teams, the upgrade is hard to justify.
Yes — DStv Premium subscribers typically get a Showmax subscription bundled or heavily discounted, which is one of the genuine value-adds of the top tier. Showmax is otherwise a separate MultiChoice streaming product with its own catalogue, so the Premium perk saves you paying for it twice.
Many households compare DStv Premium against internet-TV (IPTV) services, which offer far larger live channel counts for a fraction of the R979 bill. IPTV quality and content licensing vary by provider and country, so the sensible approach is to test reliability on a free trial and check local rules before switching.
Related Guides
This review is one chapter of the main DStv guide — explore the packages, sport, and features it connects to below.
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