Cable TV provider, Multichoice has come under fire across Africa over ’vintage content’ and repetitive repeats of broadcasts on DStv channels. In South Africa, an online petition on change.org so far 189,385 people of the 200,000 target have signed, demanding “DStv to give South African subscribers a payment break or decrease prices during Covid-19.”

South African subscribers accuse DStv of discounting subscription charges in other countries like Nigeria while ignoring their biggest market. There are 8.2 million DStv subscribers in South Africa and 10.7 million subscribers from the rest of Africa raking in 25.7bn rand (about Shs 5.1 trillion) in revenue in the first quarter of FY 2019/20.

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Nigeria is DStv’s biggest market outside South Africa – contributing about 33 per cent of the total subscription revenue for rest of Africa (RoA) in 2018. Kenya and Zambia both contributed 12 per cent each while other markets contributed 43 per cent. In the first half of FY 2019/20, Nigeria contributed 38 per cent, Kenya 10 per cent and Zambia at 9 per cent and the rest of Africa 42 per cent according to figures from MultiChoice Group.

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Martin Mabutho, the chief commercial officer of MultiChoice Nigeria is quoted as saying that the discounts are a way to thank their consumers for consistent loyalty.“The discounts given are in line with MultiChoice’s mission to provide quality content and a chance for their loyal and valued customer base to experience a wider range of content on higher packages.”

DStv and GOtv subscribers in Nigeria have been granted up to 44 per cent and 74 per cent respectively – in a bid to ease the impact of the ongoing socio-economic crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak. While South Africans think DStv is discounting in the rest of Africa other than South Africa, Ugandan subscribers are complaining of being treated unfairly by DStv. “Help me understand why @DStv discounts box office in SA and not the rest of Africa @DStv_Kenya @DStvUganda we must be children of a lesser God,” Henry Rugamba, a Ugandan wrote on Twitter.

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“You just opened pandora’s box. As a stay home incentive box office is discounted in [South Africa] but not for the rest of Africa is that is really fair and appreciative of their continental clients. This is indefensible and a clear show of their respect for us the non-SA customers,” Rugamba added. In response, DStv said they operate under different economic markets hence the different discount parameters.

Live sport and entertainment events including football, athletics, basketball were DStv’s selling points. But with the Covid-19 outbreak, nearly all sports events were banned across the world due to the risk of exposure among the players and supporters. With the majority of people now staying home, most subscribers have now more time for television, especially during the lockdowns. Many subscribers have expressed their displeasure at DStv for continuing to charge premium rates minus live sports or events. A #DSTVMustFall hashtag has been trending for a couple of weeks calling on DStv to reduce their subscription charges. For those in need of fresh movies, DStv says there is an option to watch the latest movies at Shs 8,000 on Box Office and Catch Up for series that are broadcast on almost the same day they are released worldwide.

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“Drop the price. There’s a huge difference between Netflix yearly price and DStv premium price. So we demand dstv prices to drop not only during the pandemic, wrote Michael Ramalivhana on change.org. “You repeat movies. You play 1900 movies on top of that you charge us a lot of money.” While Nick Steen from South Africa, said “getting more and more expensive for less and less value. Gym’s and many others have cut prices when they can’t deliver the expected service. DStv must do the same.”

“These guys @DStv should do a brand change to #DSRTV i.e. Repeat TV old series Top Gear is 7 years old Friends ended in 2004, old movies #beverlyHillsCop 1984 we need to be liberated from this theft @DStvUganda @UCC_ED #SaveUS,” wrote Rugamba. Multichoice Uganda in a statement explained why they are not considering subscription discounts.

“As much as possible, MultiChoice consistently strives to absorb its operating costs possible to bring our customers the best value. Although we are unable to give free subscriptions at this time, we have launched the “DStv Tweyanziza” and GOtv “Mwebale Nnyo” offers for our subscribers with effect from 20th April 2020.” the statement reads.

“These offers are our gestures to give our customers even more value during this difficult time. We are giving DStv and GOtv customers access to all the channels available on the next higher package from their current one if they pay their current subscription in full. We know times are tough and we will continue to strive to add value to our subscribers at a time when they need it.” it added.

On repeated content, Multichoice acknowledged their subscriber discontentment saying they are “busy working with our channel partners on reducing the number of repeats and offering more fresh content on DStv. While we won’t do away with repeats entirely, our plan is to cut down where we can and bring you more fresh content. We’ve already implemented some changes to some of our channels to improve our customers’ viewing experience. For example, M-Net Edge and M-Net 101 which show series were merged into one channel to reduce on the series repeats.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry