Category: Streaming Services
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 […]
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 […]
Netflix, Amazon & ESPN+ fighting for F1 rights. Great and all but EPL is life…
It was just a matter of time wasn’t it until Netflix went for live sports. According to a report by Business Insider, the world’s biggest streaming service is looking to add the Formula 1 Championship to its slate of programming. Netflix isn’t the only media company that has thrown its hat in the ring, Disney-owned […]
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 […]
Local music streaming service wins promoter of the year at the NAMAs
Zimbabwean Pay-Per-View platform Gateway Stream Music was named the Promoter of the Year 2022 at the prestigious National Arts Merits Awards (NAMA) held last week. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, for whatever reason, Gateway Stream was the platform that got the exclusive rights to debut Jah Prayzah’s 2021 album “Gwara”. “Promoter of the […]
DStv’s Showmax has a 10% discount if you pay using a Mastercard
Multichoice has been trying its very best in the streaming wars. Over the years it has had a number of promotions aimed at enticing people to consider signing up for the service. The pick of the bunch was the “pay for one month for the price of three” promotion that ran last year during the […]
Aspiring Filmmakers! Apply for Netflix’s US$1 mil scholarship
Netflix, the world’s biggest streaming service, has pledged US$1 million to film and television students in Sub Saharan Africa. The endowment is being done through Netflix’s Creative Equity Scholarship Fund which was launched last year. “Netflix is excited by the potential of the next generation of storytellers and we’re committed to investing in the future […]
Gateway Stream launches a fantastic way for influencers to make money on the platform
Local super app Gateway Stream has continued its artist/creator focus model by offering influencers a way of monetising their brands by earning commissions on the platform. As I am sure you are all aware, Zimbabwe has influencers who have reached the 1 million views/followers mark and beyond. However, there is still a gap in terms […]
Altar, a platform for homegrown Christian content
Churches have had to adapt to the pressures of the pandemic much like every other community in the world. We have seen many congregations move services online either in Zoom meetings or on Facebook and YouTube live streams. Even though restrictions have been relaxed the utility of online platforms has remained and a local SA-based […]
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 […]
Here’s how much Gateway Stream pays local content creators
So… a little while ago, Gateway Stream announced that it was hosting Wadiwa Wepa Moyo on its platform before episodes go live on YouTube. When we jumped on to see the “exclusive” launch we were a little underwhelmed by the onboarding process and the experience in general. The issues were much the same as the […]
34% of people in Zimbabwe are not interested in e-commerce
It looks like a good number of people in Zimbabwe don’t care for e-commerce and online services according to Zimstat. In the recently released findings from the 2020 ICT Access by Households and Use by Individuals Survey, 34% of Zimbabweans answered “not interested” to the question about barriers to purchasing goods and services online. Although, […]
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 […]
Wadiwa Wepamoyo Season 2 on Gateway Streams, it’s Jah Prayzah all over again…
Wadiwa Wepamoyo Season 2 dropped today on Gateway Stream, the same platform that Jah Prayzah dropped his album exclusively a little while ago. And it looks like the problems that plagued the latter’s rollout affected Wadiwa Wepamoyo but with the added dimension of video. You can listen to or download the podcast with the link […]
Netflix to offer a free mobile plan in Kenya
In a bid to capture the East African market, Netflix is launching a free mobile plan in Kenya. The offer will, unsurprisingly, be available to users on Android as the OS dominates the market in terms of users not only in Kenya but the rest of Africa. “If you’ve never watched Netflix before — and […]
All the video streaming services available in Zimbabwe compared
In yesterday’s article, I touched on how streaming services were going to decimate DStv. Some felt this was not going to be the case because most streaming services are not available in Zimbabwe by default. You need to fiddle with VPN and SmartDNS if you want to get the most out of your streaming experience. […]
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 […]
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 sign up for Britbox South Africa from Zimbabwe
I grew up on British TV shows long before former Minister Jonathan Moyo came and ruined ZBC with his local content and jingles push. We had this black and white Peacock TV that had the perfect picture quality and each day before heading out to herd the goats I would get a healthy dose of […]
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 […]
South Africans will get Disney+ Star next year too
People were a bit upset when it was revealed that the last Fox channel, which is owned by Disney, was going to be leaving DStv at the end of this coming month. There was speculation that this was a very strategic move from Disney who had just announced that they will be bringing their streaming […]
Is sports streaming more expensive than traditional DStv?
Before I even begin I have to confess that I am not a fan of traditional DStv setup. Do not get me wrong, I am happy to admit that the whole satellite on your roof and no data costs set up does have its appeal. It’s especially important if you live in remote areas with […]
eVOD no longer accepts Zimbabwe numbers, here is how you can still sign up
About two weeks ago eMedia, the guys behind eTV channels and OpenView HD launched their own streaming platform eVOD. The platform has both free and premium tiers. During the early days, all you needed was a South African IP address. You could sign up using your Zimbabwean phone number. This is no longer possible. Now […]
Netflix resumes its crackdown on password sharing
In March of this year, seems like forever ago, to be honest, we learnt that Netflix was now prodding those who shared accounts to get separate accounts. Several people who did not live in the same household i.e. appeared to have two different IP addresses but were watching using the same account would get a […]
Showmax Pro to stream EPL, La Liga & more but only SA will get UCL
After the successful live streaming of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Showmax Pro will be bringing the world’s best football to its subscribers. Showmax Pro is the only streaming service in Africa to stream all matches of the English Premier League (EPL), La Liga and Serie A and the DStv Premiership, courtesy of SuperSport. The new […]
Netflix goes after SmartDNS and specialist VPN providers
If you are a Netflix user you probably know that regular VPN doesn’t work if you want to watch content from another county. This is because Netflix has “blocked” all known none-home IP addresses that are typically used by most VPNs. This has led to a rise in so-called specialist VPNs and SmartDNS. These are […]
You can now watch eTV shows for free on eVOD
eMedia the company that operates Openview and eTV recently launched an on-demand streaming platform known as eVOD. This platform will allow you to watch eTV original content as well as South African produced movies, TV shows and soapies. Unlike most streaming platforms out there this one comes with an awesome free tier although you can […]
Uncle Sho might be gone but his legacy will live on
Shona Ferguson the South African actor, producer, director and business mogul died on 30 July 2021. While initial news articles blamed his demise on complications brought about by some complicated operation it later came out that he had succumbed to COVID-19. He might have died but his legacy will live on. You should really checkout […]