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Millions of DStv subscribers have complained that the broadcaster’s online streaming service is not working for them after MultiChoice introduced a single-device limit on concurrent Troubleshooting has been the order of the day since 22 March 2022 arrived.
After a highly unpopular announcement earlier in February, the pay-TV broadcaster implemented its single-device streaming limit on Tuesday, 22 March 2022.
MultiChoice claimed the change is part of an effort to clamp down on piracy and sharing account passwords.
But searching for “DStv streaming” on Twitter in the past three days showed a flood of complaints seemingly related to the change.
Numerous subscribers asserting that they are only using one device for DStv streaming said they are being presented with one of the following error messages:
“We’re sorry. Looks like something went wrong. This may be related to reaching your limit of 2 concurrent streams or due to a streaming error. If you are currently streaming on another device, please stop streaming and try again.”
“Whoops. Looks like something went wrong. This may be related to reaching your limit of one concurrent stream or due to a streaming error. If you are currently streaming on another device, please stop streaming and try again.”
Based on the photos of the error message shared by users, most of the complaints were from users trying to stream on TVs.
Another user claimed they had just one device registered on the account but were also getting an error.
While it is possible that some users might have shared their account details with others previously and were unaware of simultaneous streaming taking place on other devices, the sheer volume of complaints suggest a technical issue.
In response to the complaints, DStv’s support team has asked subscribers for information on the type of device they are using to stream.
One recommendation was that users log out and back into their accounts to see if it resolved the problem.
However, several had indicated they completely deleted and reinstalled the app, and the issue was still occurring.
MyBroadband tried to replicate the error on DStv streaming through a browser, but found we could stream without issues on one device, even after streaming to another.
As intended, streaming on two devices simultaneously would present the following error message:
“Streaming limit reached. Your DStv subscription allows streaming on one device at a time. You will need to stop the streams in use on other devices before you can watch here.”
MultiChoice has told MyBroadband it was aware of some subscribers receiving the error messages.
“We are aware that some older Samsung TV and Hisense TV models are impacted,” the company stated.
“We have made some adjustments to the software we use to issue licences, and this should have resolved the playback error.”
It said all subscribers should now be able to play content on these devices.
“If not, they should close the app and restart it, that should enable playback,” MultiChoice advised.
The broadcaster said there were also some customers who might not be able to stream to one device as people they previously shared login details with were already streaming.
“For these customers, we recommend that they update their passwords and also check the devices registered against their logins and remove inactive devices or devices they themselves are not using,” the company recommended.
MultiChoice added the cause of the inconsistent error messages between devices was that all platforms did not update at the same time.
One of the error messages appearing on a Hisense TV
For devices showing the first error, it seems DStv had not yet updated the wording of the error message on some smart TV or media players.
The second message only seemed to show on Hisense TVs, indicating that the VIDAA TV OS version of the DStv app may have been updated.
However, the fundamental problem experienced by all the users was the same, including those on other TVs — they were unable to stream to even a single device.
“Struggling to use the DStv app on my TV. There’s no other person streaming but it keeps kicking me out, haibo,” one user said.
“I am the only one viewing DStv now, as all the other devices are switched off. How can my streaming limit be reached?” another stated.
“Legit subscription and the only one streaming and keep getting this error. Thanks @DStv for making things difficult for your actual customers,” a third said.
A fourth user with two registered smartphones said they were getting the error on one of the devices while the other one was turned off. “This limit is absurd,” they said.
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