It's not hard to find reasons to be miffed by MultiChoice and its DStv offering. From endless programme repeats and billing problems to unfriendly disconnection policies and equipment insurance gripes, the dominant (pretty much only) player in the local pay-TV world is understandably an easy target.
But I suspect consumer opposition to the phasing out of its older-model decoders will prove to be the most vocal.
MultiChoice is doing away with dual-view, SD PVR, (personal video recording) and certain single-view decoders in favour of new technology, and in particular, its new super-smart Explora PVR option.
What this means is that when older decoders give up the ghost, MultiChoice won't repair or replace them.
Your option will be to upgrade to the R2000 Explora, discounted to R1500 if you trade in your old model and smartcard. If you can't afford the Explora, you'll get R50 off a R500 HD decoder (non-PVR) in the same deal.
But, even if you upgrade to Explora, your troubles - and your costs - are not over.
The new Explora doesn't have dual-view capability. In short, it doesn't allow for a second "viewing environment", where a different channel can be viewed at the same time in another room.
If you want to continue with this handy feature (many families would be loath to give it up), you'll need to have two decoders to create two independent viewing environments, known as XtraView.
But even after you've paid for the additional decoder and installation, you'll discover the second viewing environment doesn't have PVR functionality even if your primary decoder is an Explora.
So although you'll be able to watch another channel in another room through XtraView, you won't be able to pause, rewind, record or use Catch-Up or Box Office on the second TV.
If you want that luxury - in other words, the same features you enjoy with your standard PVR - you'll have to pay for another Explora and link the two PVR decoders, albeit still under a single subscription.
However, if you want a third TV to play a different channel, with PVR capability or not, you'll need a third decoder - and - here's the whopper - you'll have to pay a second subscription fee.
MultiChoice is working on an alternative to this double fee, but it won't disclose any details for now.
It's not surprising that customers are unimpressed. When Kempton Park pensioner Brian Bell's standard PVR started playing up recently, he traded it in for the Explora and a second decoder, not realising the XtraView offering wouldn't give him the same dual PVR benefits he'd enjoyed previously.
"I have half of what I had before and it has cost me more than R3 500 to set up," said Bell. "I feel I have been taken for a wholesale ride ... I am the hell in with MultiChoice."
Customer Alan Smith agrees. "Once again, the wool has been pulled over South African eyes. All new decoder models are single-view only."
Smith said the manufacturers of the new decoders had told him it was possible to make dual-view decoders but referred him to MultiChoice as the "design authority" for further explanation.
So why is MultiChoice risking such a backlash from loyal customers, I asked.
"We stopped making decoders with dual-view technology more than seven years ago," said MultiChoice corporate communication head Marietjie Groenewald.
We don't have the licence to manufacture dual-view decoders ... and we can't get it
"This is very old technology, which does not hold a candle to the newer high-definition PVR decoders in terms of cost of manufacture, cost to consumer and consumer experience.
"Similar to old-model cellphones and old tape recorders and VCRs, these decoders simply cannot cope with the range of channels and other value-added services we offer today."
But if dual-view technology is still available, why not make use of it?
She said the technology, licensed to "someone" who had previously allowed MultiChoice to use it, was not available to it any more. "We don't have the licence to manufacture dual-view decoders ... and we can't get it," she said.
MultiChoice started warning customers in November last year that older decoders would not be fixed if broken and that software would not be updated, she said.
Affected customers with decoder insurance are better off: their faulty or broken decoders would be upgraded at no cost.
"The current promotion for customers to swap their older-model decoders for a DStv Explora is not a ploy to misguide our customers or force them to buy a DStv Explora. The choice is completely up to the customer whether they want to replace their decoder now or wait until it breaks."
Well, that's not entirely accurate. Even if your SD PVR isn't yet showing signs of age (like freezing, losing functionality), it'll be as good as useless come early 2017.
The SD PVR can only receive low-band frequencies, so when MultiChoice launches an additional back-up satellite in a year or so - positioning channels on low- and high-band frequencies - affected customers will lose out on certain services.
You can't really win on this one. Either way, you're going to have to upgrade sooner rather than later, and if you want your upgrade to include XtraView or dual PVR capability, you're going to take a hit. With scant pay-TV competition out there, it seems MultiChoice - with 5.4 million subscribers paying between R40 and R800 a month for various DStv packages - will have consumers over a barrel for some time to come.
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