DStv changes: What you need to know

As Channel24 reported earlier this year, M-Net's new IS20 satellite has given the pay operator more capacity to deliver more channels to DStv subscribers.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the details of the changes and new offerings were revealed.

Here's a basic rundown of what the new DStv offering will feature after the launch on 1 October.

The switchover will happen in the early hours of Monday, 1 October and there should be no disruption in viewing.

The channel numbering has been re-organised as follows:

General Entertainment with International content: 101 - 143

General entertainment with local content: 144 - 169

Documentaries and lifestyle: 170 - 190

Free-to-air: 191 - 195

Supersport including HD: 200 onwards

• HD and SD will now be broadcast on the same channel - i.e. M-Net HD will no longer be on 170 but on 101 - your decoder will play in HD if it is an HD decoder.
• Universal (117) and Studio Universal (112) will also be available in HD.
• 2 new Africa Magic channels have been added: Africa Magic Entertainment and Africa Magic Movies 1.

MOVIE CHANNELS

The biggest change to the DStv premium offering is the movie offering. 

• The premium bouquet will offer eight movie channels, instead of the current four.
• The channels will be organised by genre.

103 - M-Net Movies Premiere

104 - M-Net Movies Comedy

105 - M-Net Movies Family

106 - M-Net Movies Action Plus

107 - M-Net Movies Drama and Romance

108 - M-Net Movies Showcase

110 - M-Net Movies Action

111 - M-Net Movies Stars

• All these movie channels - except for 110 and 111 - are available in HD.
• MM Action and MM Stars will still be available on the compact bouquet.
• A new movie will premiere on each of the genre channels every day.

* Are you excited about the changes? If not, what new channels would you have preferred? Send us your thoughts and get published!