How to Watch the Premier League in South Africa (Without DStv)
If you support Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City or any of the big English clubs, you already know the drill in South Africa: the Premier League lives on SuperSport, SuperSport lives on DStv, and DStv is not cheap. To get every matchweek live you're looking at a Premium package, a decoder, an installation, and a debit order that climbs every year. For a single supporter who just wants to watch the football, that's a lot of rand going out the door each month.
The good news is that you no longer need a satellite dish bolted to your roof to follow the league. There are several legitimate ways to watch English football here, and a growing number of South Africans are dropping the big bouquet entirely. This guide walks through the official routes honestly, then explains where an IPTV subscription fits in as the affordable alternative, what you need to make it work, and how to get set up before kickoff on Saturday.
Why the Premier League is so expensive here
SuperSport holds the broadcast rights to the Premier League in sub-Saharan Africa, and SuperSport sits inside the MultiChoice family alongside DStv. That means the matches you want are bundled into the upper DStv packages. You can't buy "just the football" on a satellite plan. You pay for hundreds of channels you'll never watch to reach the handful of sports channels you actually care about.
On top of the monthly fee there's hardware: a decoder, a dish, and usually a paid installation. And because the contract renews automatically, the price tends to creep up season after season. None of this is a knock on the quality of the broadcast, which is excellent. It's simply expensive, and for a lot of households the maths stopped working a while ago.
The official ways to watch (described honestly)
Before we get to the cheaper route, it's only fair to lay out the legitimate options so you can compare them properly.
1. DStv Premium with SuperSport
This is the traditional route and still the most complete. The top DStv bouquets carry the full set of SuperSport channels, so you get every live Premier League fixture, the studio analysis, the highlights shows, and other leagues too. If you watch a lot of different sport, the value can stack up. The catch is the cost and the commitment: it's the priciest way to get the football, you need the decoder and dish, and you're tied to a monthly debit order. For a single PL supporter, it's overkill.
2. The SuperSport app and DStv Stream
You don't strictly need the satellite dish anymore. MultiChoice offers streaming through DStv Stream and the SuperSport app, which let you watch on a phone, tablet, laptop or smart TV over the internet. This removes the installation headache and gives you the same SuperSport coverage. It's a genuinely good option if you want the official broadcast without hardware. The pricing still mirrors the DStv tiers, though, so it solves the "no dish" problem more than the "too expensive" one.
3. Showmax and the Premier League
Showmax (also part of the MultiChoice group) has carried live Premier League football in South Africa, and for a streaming-first supporter it can be a tidy fit. You watch through an app, there's no decoder, and it bundles in series and movies. Availability of specific live matches and the exact package can change season to season, so check what the current Showmax plan actually includes before you sign up expecting all 380 fixtures. As a streaming product it's a real step down in hassle from satellite.
So the official picture is straightforward: the football is high quality and easy to find, but every legitimate route runs through MultiChoice, and the price reflects that. If budget is the thing standing between you and the football, you need a different approach.
IPTV: the affordable alternative
IPTV simply means television delivered over the internet instead of a satellite dish or aerial. You install a small app on a device you probably already own, sign in, and your channels stream in over your normal home connection. There's no decoder to rent, no dish on the roof, and no installer to book.
For South African football fans the appeal is obvious. A good IPTV subscription gives you live sports channels, including the coverage that carries English football, for a fraction of what a full satellite bouquet costs. You're paying for the streams you want rather than a giant bundle. You can watch on your TV in the lounge, then carry on the second half on your phone if you have to leave the house.
If you've been weighing up the two side by side, we've broken the comparison down in detail in our IPTV vs DStv guide, which covers the real trade-offs on price, reliability and channel range rather than just the marketing.
A fair word of caution: quality varies a lot between IPTV providers. Cheap, anonymous services tend to buffer, drop out at kickoff, and disappear with your money. The whole point of choosing a proper service is reliability when it actually matters, which is the 90 minutes the match is live.
Ready to stop overpaying for football you barely have time to watch? Have a look at our South Africa IPTV plans and pick the option that suits how you watch.
What you need to watch the Premier League over IPTV
Getting set up is simpler than most people expect. Here's the short checklist.
A decent internet connection
Streaming live sport needs a stable connection more than a blisteringly fast one. As a rough guide, around 10 Mbps will handle a solid HD stream, and 25 Mbps or more gives you headroom for Full HD or 4K and for other people in the house using the WiFi at the same time. Fibre is ideal if you have it. A good LTE or 5G fixed-wireless line works well too, and many supporters watch perfectly happily on these.
One South African reality worth planning around: mobile data. If you're streaming on a capped mobile package, live football will eat through it quickly, so an uncapped fibre or fixed-wireless line is the sensible base for regular viewing. Save the mobile stream for when you're away from home and can't get to a screen.
A device to watch on
You don't need anything fancy. Any of these will do the job:
- An Android TV box or a streaming stick plugged into your telly
- A smart TV that lets you install apps
- An Android phone or tablet
- A laptop or PC connected to the TV via HDMI
- An iPhone or iPad using a compatible player
The cheapest entry point is usually a small Android TV box, which turns any TV with an HDMI port into a smart one for not much money.
An IPTV player app
Your subscription gives you the streams; a player app turns them into a watchable channel list with a programme guide. The right app makes a real difference to how smooth the experience feels. We round up the strong choices in our best IPTV player apps guide so you can match one to your device.
How to watch on matchweek, step by step
Once your subscription is active, the routine is quick. Here's how a typical Saturday goes:
- Open your IPTV player app on your TV box, smart TV or phone.
- Make sure your details are loaded so your channel list is up to date.
- Find the sports section in the channel list or the on-screen guide.
- Select the channel showing your fixture and wait a few seconds for the stream to load.
- Settle in. If the picture looks soft at first, give it a moment to climb to full quality.
If you've never installed a service before, our how to install IPTV guide walks through the whole thing from scratch, including loading your details into the app and getting the channel list to appear. It takes most people about ten minutes the first time.
Watching around load-shedding
Any honest South African football guide has to mention load-shedding. A satellite decoder goes dark the moment the power trips. With IPTV you have more flexibility, because you can switch to a phone or tablet on mobile data and keep watching through the outage, then move back to the TV when the lights come on. Pairing your router and a small device with an inverter or power bank means you can ride out a stage or two without missing the second half. It won't beat Eskom on its own, but it gives you options that a dish never could.
A note on the Premier Soccer League
South African football isn't only about England. The Premier Soccer League, with Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and the rest of the DStv Premiership, has its own broadcast home on SuperSport too. Plenty of supporters want both the English football and the local game, and a good sports-focused subscription typically carries the channels for both. So you're not choosing between Anfield and the Soweto derby. You can follow the lot from one setup.
Frequently asked questions
Can I watch the Premier League in South Africa without DStv?
Yes. You can stream it through DStv Stream or the SuperSport app without the dish, through Showmax depending on the current package, or through an IPTV subscription that carries the sports channels. IPTV is usually the most affordable of these for someone who mainly wants the football.
How much internet speed do I need to stream football?
Roughly 10 Mbps handles a stable HD stream. Bump that to 25 Mbps or more if you want Full HD or 4K, or if several people share the connection. A consistent line matters more than a huge headline speed, so a steady fibre or fixed-wireless connection beats a fast but flaky one.
Will it work during load-shedding?
Your home fibre line goes down when the power does, the same as a decoder. The difference with IPTV is that you can switch to a phone or tablet on mobile data and keep watching, or keep your router and a small streaming device running off an inverter or power bank. That flexibility is the advantage over satellite.
Is IPTV reliable enough for live matches?
A reputable service is, yes. The buffering horror stories almost always come from the cheapest anonymous sellers. Choosing a proper provider with stable servers is the whole point, because live sport is exactly when reliability counts. Read our comparison for an honest take on what to expect.
What device should I use?
An Android TV box is the easiest and cheapest way to get going on a normal television. A smart TV, phone, tablet, laptop or iPad all work too. Match your choice to a good player app and you're sorted.
Can I watch local PSL matches as well?
In most cases yes. A sports-focused subscription generally carries the SuperSport channels that show the DStv Premiership alongside the English football, so you can follow Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns from the same setup you use for the Premier League.
The bottom line
The Premier League has never been easier to watch in South Africa, and you're no longer stuck with a single expensive route to get it. The official streaming options from MultiChoice are good if budget isn't your main concern. If it is, IPTV gives you the same live football on the screens you already own, for far less, with the bonus of working around load-shedding when you need it to. Sort out a stable connection, grab a small device and a decent player app, and you'll be ready for kickoff.
Start by browsing the plans built for South Africa, or head back to the homepage to see everything in one place.