A lot has & is being said about the debate between free IPTV & Pay TV. IPTV might be deemed as the best option because it combines the best of the 3 basics: Live TV, VOD & Internet - since the latter is a must have in such case, but it has proven to be an unreliable source for hussle-free & stable live TV streaming. On Mobdro for example, it gets very hard to watch a live match because the servers get too many requests that they start to offer a buffering stream. In truth, you can't rely on the advert-funded apps to provide a complete comfort on your home. It might be expensive but pay TV provides a rather stable and >95% reliable stream. It's content is definitely limited & if you're not into sports, it could be almost meaningless. But by the end of the day, you will more likely walk to your nearest pub or viewing centre in order to watch your favourite team play. I have tried to compare a scenario where both options are providing an optimum service. Safaricom FTTH costs 3.5k for 10mbps. This is the best option for HD streaming. Then you need to subscribe to a reliable premium IPTV service with a good reputation. The minimum for such service is 1.5k. Therefore, you pay 5k for the IPTV service. Netflix is hardly needed here because Terrarium does well - albeit for the innocuous ads. For a decent pay TV, it will cost 3k on bein. & since you may, more likely than not, need an Internet connection at home - you may opt for a 2.5k Internet service ie Hai Max or even Zuku & the likes. It could be less. You will end up paying more for pay TV (you won't even get to watch rugby matches & wrestling too) but get something more reliable and easy to fix in case of a error. I know of a viewing centre that uses IPTV Subs & they took severe losses in the past month because the IPTV Subs were down for over 2 weeks. & another problem with premium IPTV is that it's filled with cons. I know of many services that have been online for a couple of months then they shut down. This could incur losses especially when you opted for a lengthy package ie annually or 3 months. Credit card security is another issue too. Multichoice are less likely to steal your money than some guy who run an iptv service from a Basement in the UK. If we had an ISP that is equivalent to BT in the UK, this wouldn't even be a contest. It's no wonder Sky are shutting down their sat TV service. The same can't be said of the situation here in Kenya unfortunately. Would like to get your views on this one
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Could IPTV Streaming Be A Bubble Waiting To Burst?!
- Thread starter Kalintosh
- Start date
Yes. Iptv is the future but it will take longer for it to become significant here in Africa. Fibre infrastructure is very limited & very unreliable. In the UK, it is a different case. Sat TV will still be king in the next decade - here in Africa. Besides, BT still uses DTTH for a bulk of the channels it provides to its subscribers. They basically give you their own FTA STB which is a combo. In order to watch FTA channels you need to install an antenna. Hehe! It's only when you need the exclusive premium BT sports channels that you can get them via your FTTH. & even then, you need to be on a decent package. You can look online for more details. The situation shows that even in the UK IPTV lags behind!
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