South Africans seem spoiled for choice these days when it comes to streaming services, with yet another player entering the market yesterday. Called Digital Entertainment on Demand (DEOD), the service was launched by local video on demand solutions provider Discover Digital, at an event held in Johannesburg.

DEOD aims to do things slightly differently, offering TV channels, on-demand streaming of movies and series, and blockbuster movie rentals through one portal. At this stage, streaming is available on smartphones, tablets and notebooks, with smart TV, Chromecast and Airplay support promised for coming weeks.

Cost wise DEOD is one of the cheaper offerings, with R79 per month (p/m) asked for the On Demand streaming package. This includes a fair amount of series (12 Monkeys, Suits, Parks and Recreation, Weeds), movies (Pulp Fiction, District 9, The Green Mile, Dune, Tank Girl) and kids programming (Bob the Builder, Barney and Friends).

Where the TV channels are concerned, subscribers can pick up a number of news service (Al Jazeera, Bloomberg Television) for R49 per month, with sport channels, including the extreme sport focused EDGE Sport HD, Fightbox and Motorvision.tv, going for R99 p/m. Combined, the news and sport channels retail for R129 p/m.

Subscribers can also opt for an all-inclusive Premium Package for R189 p/m, which offers both the TV channels and On Demand services. 

In our opinion a lot of the good stuff lies under rentals, with international distribution rights sending hot-off-the-circuit movies through the rental channels first. For that reason, flicks like Rogue One, Moana, and Star Trek Beyond can be rented for R18-R30 on a pay-per-view basis. 

It might perhaps just be initial teething problems, but DEOD seemed a bit slow when clicking through to different parts of the site and while streaming, and it would also be great if more movie selections were displayed on the On Demand page instead of having to click to see more.

Discover Digital MD, Stephen Watson, noted that DEOD is heading to Zambia and Zimbabwe soon. At the end of his presentation Watson also issued a challenge to chairman of Naspers, Koos Bekker, regarding the broadcasting of sporting events, “I just ask: ‘Make space for smaller players, don’t be a bully.’” Whether Bekker is up for loosening MuliChoice’s tight grip on some of the top sports broadcasting rights remains to be seen.

Those who want to check out DEOD can head over to deod.tv to see the selection available (other streaming sites usually don’t allow this), or to try a rental.