South Africans are cutting the cord, and they’re not looking back. Pay TV lost nearly 10% of its subscribers in 2025, dropping from 7.4-million to 6.7-million. Subscribers in 2025 were down 20% on the peak of 2022, according to the latest ICASA State of ICT Sector Report 2026.

The culprit? Streaming. Over-the-top (OTT) platforms let viewers watch what they want, when they want, without being locked into pricey bundles. And faster, more affordable internet has only made the switch easier.

It’s not just about convenience, though. Pay TV subscriptions remain stubbornly expensive: DSTV’s premium stream costs R700/month and almost R1,000/month for a decoder-based service. This compared with the R229/month for premium Netflix.

Sports fans in particular have few alternatives to DSTV. Sport remains one of DSTV’s primary lock-ins. But as more direct-to-consumer vertical services like F1TV roll out even the sports bundle offered by pay TV operators will come under increasing pressure.