You’ve heard of Internet TV, but don’t really know what it is?

Showmax is an Internet TV service where you can watch what you want, when you want with no adverts. Here's what you need to know.

November 18, 2016

Caxton Central 2 minutes read

Showmax, which launched a year ago, has the largest subscription video catalogue in Africa, giving subscribers instant access to popular series, movies and kids shows online. You can watch your favourite show almost anywhere on smart devices – on the bus, on the beach or leaning back and watching on your computer or big screen TV at home.

How much does ShowMax cost?

R99 a month, but you will need access to the internet to stream or download.

How much data do you need?

If you watch two hours a day, you’ll need between 3GB and 15GB a week to watch ShowMax, depending on the quality setting. ShowMax’s bandwidth capping function reduces data consumption by selecting a lower streaming video-quality level. Optimise data usage for different devices, for example, set the kids cartoons to low quality on the tablet and your smart TV to the maximum. Check the calculator to see how much you need.

What data options do you have?

Telkom ADSL and Fibre customers get 100GB of data a month with the Entertainment Bolt-on for R99 per month to stream or download entertainment services like ShowMax. That gives you more than two hours a day at the highest video-streaming quality or six hours at the lowest quality.

Afrihost offers internet packages starting from R29 a month which include a free time special that gives customers free internet between midnight and six in the morning. Use it to download your favourite shows.

Download with ShowMax and watch offline

Download up to 25 shows to Android and Apple smartphones and tablets. ShowMax is the only streaming service with this feature. This means that you can download when you have access to Wi-Fi and watch offline without using data. A 30-minute show will use between 100MB and 500MB, depending on the quality.

Payment options

You can pay with your credit card
You can buy prepaid vouchers from retailers such as Pick n Pay and Game,
You can buy online with FNB eBucks, Absa Cash Rewards, earn Standard Bank uCount rewards
You can add to your Telkom, Vodacom or DStv account.

What is there to watch?

More than 25 000 episodes including local hits like Binnelanders and Boer Soek ‘n Vrou and international hit shows including Game of Thrones (all seasons), Big Bang Theory, Scrubs (all seasons), Mr Robot (all seasons) and Downton Abbey (all seasons).