OpenView Channels List 2026: All 23 Channels + Radio (Free, No Subscription)

What’s actually on OpenView in 2026

Ask five people what OpenView gives you and you’ll get five different answers, usually somewhere between “just SABC” and “basically nothing.” Neither is right. OpenView HD is South Africa’s free-to-view satellite platform: you buy the decoder once, point a dish at the same Intelsat 20 satellite DStv uses, and the channels keep running with no monthly bill after that. In the Franschhoek valley we install and align OpenView dishes every week, and the question that comes up almost every time is simply: what channels do I actually get for my money?

The honest answer is a tidy line-up of local and international channels rather than a bouquet the size of DStv Compact or Premium. That’s the trade-off. No subscription, but a smaller, curated set of around 23 channels plus a healthy stack of radio stations. Below is the full list, grouped by genre, so you know exactly what you’re switching on before you commit to a decoder and a dish.

Full OpenView channels list by genre

The SABC and e.tv backbone

OpenView’s foundation is exactly what most South African households already watch for free-to-air news and soapies: SABC 1, 2 and 3, plus SABC Sport, sit alongside e.tv and its full family of channels: eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra, eReality, eSeries and eToonz. If your household’s viewing is mostly local news, soap operas, e.tv’s movie nights and the kids’ cartoons after school, this cluster alone covers a lot of ground without a single rand of subscription.

eMovies and eMovies Extra are worth a special mention because they’re the closest thing OpenView has to a dedicated movie bouquet: rotating film libraries rather than a single weekly slot. Pair that with ePlesier for Afrikaans content and The Home Channel+ for cooking and lifestyle shows, and you’ve got a spread that suits a broad household rather than one niche viewer.

Bollywood, drama and international flavour

Star Life, Zee One and Star Khanya form a solid Indian and Bollywood-drama cluster that’s become genuinely popular in South Africa over the past decade: dubbed dramas, family sagas and film content that DStv usually reserves for higher-tier packages. France 24 gives you an international news option outside the SABC and e.tv news cycle, and People’s Planet fills the nature-documentary gap that a lot of viewers assume needs a National Geographic subscription to reach.

Sport is the one category where OpenView is genuinely limited. SABC Sport and SportyTV carry selected local and international sport, but this isn’t SuperSport: if live top-flight football, rugby or cricket every weekend is non-negotiable in your house, OpenView won’t replace a DStv sport package. It’s worth being upfront about that before anyone buys a decoder expecting Saturday rugby.

The two channels most people don’t know they have

DBE TV and Mindset rarely get a mention in OpenView reviews, but they’re genuinely useful if there’s a school-going child in the house. DBE TV carries curriculum-aligned lessons from the Department of Basic Education, and Mindset runs educational programming across several subjects and grade levels. Neither is flashy, but during load-shedding-disrupted school terms or exam revision periods, having structured lesson content sitting on a free-to-view channel: no data, no app, no login, has quietly saved a few Franschhoek households from a data-heavy scramble for online resources.

SA Music (135) is the other channel that surprises people. It’s a straightforward local music-video channel, and on a decoder connected to a decent sound system it does a fair job standing in for a dedicated music package without any extra subscription attached.

OpenView radio: the part people forget

Press the up arrow past channel 135 and you land in OpenView’s radio range, roughly channels 600 upward, carrying most of the big national and regional stations: 5FM, Metro FM, Good Hope FM, SAfm, RSG, Kaya FM, Jacaranda FM, Gagasi FM, OFM, Heart FM, Smile FM, Ukhozi FM, Umhlobo Wenene FM, Lesedi FM, Ikwekwezi FM, Thobela FM, Motsweding FM, Munghana Lonene FM, Phalaphala FM, Ligwalagwala FM, Lotus FM and Radio 2000, among others. It’s an easy thing to overlook when you’re focused on the TV line-up, but for a lounge or braai-area decoder it turns the box into a proper radio tuner too, no extra equipment needed.

Are all these channels actually in HD?

Despite the “HD” in OpenView HD, not every channel on the list broadcasts in high definition: a handful of the smaller and international channels still run in standard definition, while the SABC channels, e.tv and its sister channels, and the major entertainment channels are HD. It rarely matters on an older set, but if you’ve just bought a new TV and the picture on certain channels looks softer than others, that’s usually the reason rather than a fault with your dish or decoder. It’s a normal part of how the platform is built, not something a rescan or realignment will change.

How OpenView’s channel count compares

Twenty-three TV channels plus radio is not a small line-up for a once-off cost, but it’s not trying to compete with DStv’s bigger bouquets either. If you’re weighing the two up properly: cost, dish requirements, and which channels you’d actually lose or gain, our OpenView vs DStv comparison walks through it channel-for-channel. And if the deciding factor is simply what you’d pay monthly on DStv instead, our DStv packages and price list has the current 2026 figures side by side. That once-off cost is worth pricing properly: see our OpenView decoder price guide for the decoder and installed totals.

A fair way to think about it: OpenView is the right call when your must-watch list is mostly local news, soapies, movies and a general entertainment mix, and you don’t want a debit order for it. DStv still wins on live sport, international series and channel depth. Plenty of Franschhoek households actually run both: an old dish repurposed for OpenView on a second TV point, DStv on the main set.

Do channel numbers ever change?

Occasionally, yes. OpenView reshuffles channel positions or swaps a channel out when a broadcast agreement changes: it happened with a couple of slots in recent years as the platform tweaked its line-up. The numbers in the table above reflect the current 2026 arrangement, but if your on-screen guide shows something slightly different, trust the decoder over an old printout or a forum post from two years back. The safest way to confirm what’s live right now is the on-screen channel list itself, or a quick call to your installer if a whole block of numbers looks off.

Not seeing the full list on your decoder?

If your decoder is only showing a handful of these channels, the channel list itself isn’t the problem: it’s almost always signal, activation or a scan that hasn’t run. A weak or misaligned dish will drop channels selectively before it drops all of them, so don’t assume the box is broken just because eMovies is missing while SABC 1 still plays fine. Start with our OpenView activation guide if the decoder is new or was recently reset, check our OpenView signal problems guide if the picture is breaking up or missing entirely, or see how to rescan and restore missing channels if activation and signal both check out fine.

Setting it up properly the first time saves this whole headache. Our OpenView installation service in Franschhoek covers the dish, decoder, activation and a full channel scan in one visit, so you’re not troubleshooting a partial channel list a week later.

Need a hand getting every one of these channels showing correctly on your set? DSTV Franschhoek installs and aligns OpenView dishes across Franschhoek and the wider valley, same-day in most cases. Call or WhatsApp 079 754 5527 and we’ll sort it.

Want these channels without a monthly bill? Our OpenView installation in Franschhoek covers the equipment, the dish and the setup, and there is nothing to pay monthly afterwards.