Showmax adds live sport to streaming offering

South African pay TV operator MultiChoice’s streaming service Showmax has begun to offer live sports as part of its programming line-up, including English Premier League football.

The new Showmax Pro offering is available in Kenya and Nigeria, taking sports coverage from sister MultiChoice’s sports broadcasting unit SuperSport. The latter is offered as part of MultiChoice’s DStv satellite service.

The launch of live sport as part of the streaming offering follow the launch of news as part of the line-up earlier this year, adding live content to an on-demand offering.

Showmax Pro reportedly costs the equivalent of U$8 in Nibgeria and US$10 in Kenya.

MultiChoice has been ramping up its streaming operations recently, integrating Netflix and Amazon Prime Video into its pay TV set-top box-based offering and beginning field trials of a new DStv streaming option that it has said will launch later this year.

Adding sport to Showmax – trials of live sport began on the service earlier this year – along with the launch of a mobile option targeted at mobile-centric African viewers may be seen as a move to enable the streaming service to better hold its own against the likes of Netflix and Amazon prime Video.