dstv catch up watching tv

Image credit: Pixabay/JESHOOTS-com

How to catch South African sports and shows abroad

In 2016, a report by PPS—an investment, insurance, financial planning and healthcare firm for graduate professionals—indicated that 54% of South African graduates plan to move abroad for work within five years of graduating.

dstv catch up watching tv

Image credit: Pixabay/JESHOOTS-com

Moreover, the report goes on to state that 69% of those who intend to move will also make a point of staying updated on political and economic issues back at home.

While the report did not mention sports, it follows that if you are a South African who has moved abroad, then in addition to political and economic issues, you will also want to catch up on sports, local shows, and any important events as a way of maintaining a link with home.

To help you with this, here are some ways that you can catch up on the news, sports and local shows from abroad.

1. Catching up on local shows

Since 2015, Showmax an online video-on-demand subscription service has distinguished itself as the home for top South African shows. It has grown so much in popularity over the past three years that it is now Netflix’s main competitor in the country.

Showmax has over 10,000 episodes of South African TV shows from Via, Mzansi Magic and kykNET. Note that other than in South Africa, you can also access Showmax in a myriad of other African countries.

Moreover, Showmax also offers a catalog for overseas subscribers (living in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Netherlands and a host of other western countries). That means that when you move abroad, you will still be able to catch up on your favorite shows—from Isibaya to Binnelanders.

With regards to ongoing shows, Showmax publishes new episodes within 24 hours of the broadcast on a local channel. The key thing to note is that content varies from country to country.

Similar to the way Netflix offers more content for US subscribers than it does for those in South Africa, Showmax offers more content for South African subscribers. For example, the TV show Egoli is only available to those in South Africa. To get around this when abroad, here is what to do.

How to get around geo-restrictions and access all available local South African shows from Showmax

The first thing to do is to get a VPN (Virtual Private Network). A VPN will allow you to bypass any geographical restrictions. That is because with a VPN you can choose your server of choice and make it appear as if your traffic is originating from your server location.

Thus, if you choose a VPN provider with South African servers, Showmax will assume you are in South Africa and will allow you to access as much content as possible.

2. Catching up on South African sports abroad

South Africans love sports—from rugby and cricket to football, golf, and cycling. Actually, South Africa is one of only four countries in the world to have played in the world cups of three big sports.

Most South Africans watch their sport of choice on SuperSport. SuperSport is a South African group of TV channels carried by DSTV and owned by Multichoice. It is Pan-African, and as a result, it provides sports content in many other African countries.

For those in South Africa and the rest of Africa, all you need to do is subscribe to DSTV. For the rest of the world, however, SuperSport is geo-blocked.

That means South Africans who go abroad and still want to catch up on local sports tend to struggle a bit.

To avoid the struggle; the solution is first to get a VPN. After that, choose a South African server and then subscribe to SuperSport online. That way, as long as you have fast internet, you will live stream all the games you want to watch.

You can watch the World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, ICC Cricket Twenty20, Bafana Bafana games and even the South African football league. Remember you can access SuperSport online through a PC, Mac, Android, iPad or iPhone.

Final Word

Going abroad shouldn’t have to mean that you get cut off from all the local content that you enjoy. Simple and inexpensive tools to get around geo-restrictions are around, you just have to find the one that best fit your streaming needs.

Tags: