Category: Entertainment
House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones spinoff, blows up worldwide but not on DStv. Why is that?
There are those among us that held off on watching Game of Thrones (GoT). They fancied themselves architects of the counterculture, far above the lowly pleasures of the simple-folk. They paid for their ‘class’ though. For a number of years not a single conversation did not involve some GoT talk. These counterculturists thanked their lucky […]
What is the future of DStv?
For the longest time, DStv has been the dominant player in the satellite tv space in Sub-Saharan Africa. You cannot count 3 houses without a dish in any direction owing to how ubiquitous they are. And that has been the case for decades now. However, technology is now a lot different from where it was […]
Local startup takes on movie recommendations via WhatsApp
When it comes to entertainment we have an embarrassment of options these days. Want to listen to music? You have access to a catalogue you cannot run through in many lifetimes. Want to watch television, you’re just as spoilt. There are so many movies out there you couldn’t possibly watch them all even if you […]
Stranger Things season 4 wracked up 1 billion watch hours, could it save Netflix’s subscriber slump?
Stranger Things is now the most popular English language Netflix series according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter. The show which had its finale over the weekend wracked up 1.15 billion hours of view time in its first 28 days on the platform. This puts it second to the hit Korean show Squid Game, […]
King Kandoro shares more about Mukoma Bruce, Zimbabwe’s Batman or the ghetto caped crusader
Zimbabwean comedian and online content creator King Kandoro recently dropped a trailer for a Mukoma Bruce, a local adaptation of what it would be like if Batman was Zimbabwean. I’m a DC fanboy and this piqued my interest. Batman is, after all, one of the most popular comic book characters even though he comes off […]
Zim’s biggest streaming service is at ZITF2022
Gateway Stream, the biggest local music streaming service is at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF2022). Well, saying “music streaming service” might be a little disingenuous because they also do pay per view videos, and e-commerce which includes booking hotels, rideshare services, groceries drinks and a whole lot more. The company also does affiliate marketing […]
Netflix says don’t share your password, instead pay only $2.99 for an extra member
Just last month there was an outcry when Multichoice (DStv) cracked down on password sharing. Such is the challenge that streaming services face. People want to be able to stream on more than one device. Streaming services therefore allow users to stream on different devices using the same account. The rationale being that when at […]
How I installed Azam TV; a breeze if still have a Kwese dish
Me being me I thought it was a bright idea to save a couple of bucks and do the Azam TV installation myself. I mean I have done about five successful Dstv installations in the five or so places I have moved to, so simple stuff… Or so I thought. I am going to preface […]
Dstv package prices are going in up SA, are we next?
Multichoice has announced that DStv package prices are going up in South Africa. The price “adjustment” is a 2.7% uptick across all packages starting from April 1st 2022 and here are the new prices… “We realise that customers remain under pressure two years into the Covid-19 pandemic. These adjustments will help us to ensure that […]
King Kandoro Prodigal Son Review: e-passports, Nick Mangwana & more
UK-based Zimbabwean comedian Mukudzei Kandoro Majoni aka King Kandoro returned home for his Prodigal Son Tour which concluded in Harare on Christmas Eve. This was my first time attending stand up comedy locally and I can’t say I was disappointed. The opening act, Munya was pretty funny, I particularly liked the bucket bathing jokes and […]
ZBC’s new channels: Great for local content but DStv & OpenView have a sizable gap
Last week we reported on the six new channels that were operational in the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s (ZBC) digital television migration. This, for whatever reason, was something the ZBC was oddly quiet about. One would assume that a landmark moment like this, which was long overdue, was something that the national broadcasting authority would shout […]
@pablozw1, 23K followers on TikTok in 4 months. The man is an entertainer
Today I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Michael Sibanda or you might know him by his TikTok handle @PabloZW1. He is one of the funniest guys online and it’s no surprise that he has garnered 23.5K followers on TikTok since his first post in August. You can listen to or download the […]
So… ZBC was serious about digital TV channels, six are already on the air
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has for the longest time promised a digital television migration, stretching back to the days when Supa Mandiwanzira was Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services. Digital TV was not a Zimbabwean ambition alone, many other countries in SADC and across the globe made the pledge to move from […]
142 million households watched Netflix’s Squid Game
In a report by Bloomberg, Netflix’s Korean series Squid Game was watched by around 142 million households. That number made Squid Game the most-watched new show on Netflix of all time. This information was revealed in a pre-recorded call to shareholders that gleaned over the streaming service’s Q3 2021 results. What is doubly impressive is […]
Netflix is getting really serious about games
A few months ago Netflix made a rather startling revelation when it announced that it was going to diversify its business by venturing into the gaming market. They have since unveiled a couple of games in a few countries in Europe and initial results seem to suggest that they are not faring badly in the […]
Racism and cancel culture: Should R Kelly’s music be banned?
If you missed it, famous American singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, whom you probably know as R Kelly has added a new label to his name. He is now a convicted sex offender after being found guilty by a jury of his peers of numerous sex-related offences. Thanks to the world we live in, that’s probably […]
Apple’s Foundation is Game of Thrones lite in space
Will anyone ever make an epic series as riveting and enthralling as Game of Thrones? Perhaps but Apple TV’s new show Foundation is not that series. That’s not to say it’s bad. It’s just different, entertaining sure, but it’s not just as captivating as the early seasons of Game of Thrones were. It is comparable […]
DStv doubles down on its local content strategy with two new exciting shows
Faced with a deluge of streaming services eager to take slices of its territory, DStv has been banking on two Aces up its sleeve. First, there is the usual indomitable exclusive access to Sports card that worked so well against Kwese TV (may it continue to rest in peace). Then there is the local content […]
Apple and Netflix prove that streaming is the future at Emmys
I have to admit the Emmys and other such award events often take me by surprise. I often hear of them after the event and for some reason, I have never watched an award event live. Also, given the ungodly hours these events take place thanks to time differences has anyone in this country ever? […]
Xiaomi’s soundbar is amazing, affordable but not perfect
This week my beloved Mi Box S passed away thanks to a buggy OTA update from Xiaomi. I needed a replacement so I visited the local Mi Store at Eastgate to get one and see what other stuff Xiaomi has selling locally. Naturally, they have quite the haul and that’s not surprising given how Xiaomi […]
This is how streaming is going to kill DStv
You have probably heard this before but it’s worth repeating: Streaming is going to bring about the end of satellite providers like DStv. I know what your reaction is going to be: That’s never happening in Africa because here internet is limited to urban areas and even then it’s so expensive most households would find […]
Multichoice is still testing DStv Flex, there is no launch date yet
At the end of June, we learnt that DStv was on the brink of doing something that they had staunchly refused to do for a long time. They would be introducing something called DStv Flex, a new way of packaging their channels that would see customers have more control over which channels they wanted to […]
BBC’s Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business is a must watch
Yesterday BBC One aired an intriguing and riveting documentary called Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business which explores the sordid underbelly of the tobacco and cigarette business. While, to most of us Zimbabweans, tobacco just happens to be one of our biggest foreign currency earners, it turns out there is a whole dark world out […]
How to watch YouTube without ads on your Phone and Android TV
I am an avid user of YouTube. In fact, at my house, about 60% of our data goes to YouTube usage. It’s the most used app on all our devices. We follow dozens of channels as a family including tech channels, cooking channels as well as local drama channels. Over the past few months, I […]
How to unblock US Netflix & BBC iPlayer using Openwrt 21.02 and SmartDNS
Not so long ago I wrote a guide on how to unblock U.S Netflix and other services such as BBC iPlayer using an Openwrt router and SmartDNS. That guide is still valid but ever since I wrote that guide there has been a big development. The OpenWrt team released the latest stable version of OpenWrt-version […]
The BBC’s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room is a gripping must-watch Documentary
It’s hard to explain the world before 9/11 to bright-eyed ama-2000s but believe it was a different world when the new Millenium started. Even then, Iike now, I was a keen student of history and global events. There was so much hope, so much goodwill and it seemed like the world was on the mend. […]
How to watch US Netflix using static routing on OpenWrt and SmartDNSProxy
It is well known in the movie and TV Shows community that US subscribers tend to get the best Netflix goodies. It is also well known that Netflix presents its catalogue based on what they detect your IP address to be. This presents opportunities for the tech-savvy among us. You can pay for Zimbabwe, South […]
Zimbabwean Pirates rejoice as simultaneous movie releases become more common
COVID-19 has been a boon and bane to various industries. To the movie and entertainment industry, it has proved to be a bit of both. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way movies are now being released. Generally, movie the movie industry has always adhered to the so-called region and 3-month release cycle […]
Showmax ups the ante with a new original: Temptations Island South Africa
I am not a fan of reality TV shows mostly because when it’s all said and done the cynic within me refuses to believe there is anything real about them. I have always had this sneaking suspicion deep down that the flow of things is too contrived to be a coincidence. This is why I […]
Multichoice still locked in a bitter tax battle with Nigerian authorities
Last month we learnt that Nigerian authorities had either frozen or were attempting to freeze the bank accounts of several big companies over tax issues. By far the biggest name on the list was the South African entertainment giant Multichoice. The company is now involved in a heated battle over ₦1.8-trillion (US$4.3 billion) tax bill. […]