Satellite TV - Afrikan Heroes

South Africans Are Shunning Satellite TV

July 25, 2022

More South Africans are increasingly choosing streaming television entertainment over satellite services, Ellies Holdings said on Friday, blaming this in large part for the group swinging to a full-year loss. Ellis, which has traditionally had a big focus on satellite dishes and aerials, said in a trading statement that it expects to report a full-year headline loss per share to end-April 2022 of between 6.49c and 7.77c. That compares to earnings per share in the 2021 financial year of 9.19c. Revenue is expected to decline by 10.8%.

“The primary reason for the reduction in revenues and the resultant losses … is the decline in the satellite installations business together with the repeated disruptions in the global supply chain because of China’s Covid-19 lockdown policies,” Ellies told shareholders in a regulatory filing.

Satellite dish installations have continued to show a declining trend over the past several reporting periods

“Satellite dish installations have continued to show a declining trend over the past several reporting periods due to increased competition from streaming alternatives, which are gaining momentum in the local market.”

This was exacerbated in the latest financial year by an intermittent shortage of decoders. These weren’t available for a cumulative three months due to the global shortage of microchips, Ellies said.

“During the initial lockdown restrictions, MultiChoice (the parent of DStv) was deemed an essential services provider and partnered with Ellies to continue delivering its services, which resulted in a surge in new subscriptions as people were homebound. Subsequently, as Covid-19-enforced lockdown restrictions eased, demand for new subscriptions has tapered off,” it said.

“Due to the continued lower demand for satellite TV offerings, the group has decided to focus on repositioning and widening this category towards a product and service offering focusing on the smart home and internet of things (IoT). The refocused strategy leverages the current Ellies offerings around alternative energy, connectivity, IoT and streaming products for the home and business, and the change in strategy necessitates a reorganisation of the business model. The group is further engaged in a process of considering potential acquisitions to accelerate this growth.”

Other factors that weighed on the business in the past financial year included the July 2021 violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng. “In addition, South Africa’s weak economy, exacerbated by record and growing unemployment and the more recent fuel price increases, had a material adverse effect on the demand for the group’s products and consumer’s disposable income.”

Also, the recent intense load shedding by Eskom came too late in the reporting period to have a meaningful impact on demand for Ellies’ inverter and solar power product range. Ellies will publish its full-year results on 29 July.

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

Popularity of Satellite TV on the Rise In Nigeria and Ghana

June 25, 2020

Clint Brown, Vice President of Sales and Market Development for SES Video

A new study on the acceptance and adoption of satellite television over the traditional terrestrial television across West Africa has found that Satellite TV reception has increased by 23% in Nigeria and 19% in Ghana in 2019 since the last study, conducted two years ago. This means that over 35 million TV households across the African Continent are covered. According to SES, the leader in global content connectivity solutions, in its annual Satellite Monitor survey, which reveals a steady increase in the penetration of satellite TV across Africa. The study on TV reception also shows an increase in SES reach from 33 million African households in 2018 to 35 million households in 2019.

In Nigeria, the Satellite Monitor results revealed that satellite TV reception was the choice for 11.8 million households in 2019, a 23% increase compared to 2017, and a further 4.7 million in Ghana, up by 19% from 2017. The study also highlighted that High Definition (HD) TV sets are becoming increasingly popular, already present in approximately 50% of Ghanaian and Nigerian TV homes. Other TV reception modes in Nigeria and Ghana currently include terrestrial, cable and IPTV. According to the latest survey results, satellite TV is steadily gaining popularity as the TV reception mode of choice in both markets, with 70% of TV homes in Ghana and 33% of those in Nigeria opting for satellite in 2019 – an increase from 64% and 27%, respectively, compared to 2017.

The Satellite Monitor results show that SES also increased its reach across the broader African continent. In addition to the growth of homes reached in Nigeria and Ghana, the study shows that SES’s satellites reach 11.6 million homes (satellite and terrestrial) in anglophone West Africa; 6.2 million satellite homes in francophone West Africa; 17.7 million homes (satellite and terrestrial) in sub-Saharan Africa; and 0.9 million satellite homes in East Africa.

“The results of our annual Satellite Monitor market research demonstrate that satellite continues to be the optimal infrastructure to deliver hundreds of TV channels and in high picture quality too, while offering an affordable solution in the transition from analogue to digital TV,” said Clint Brown, Vice President of Sales and Market Development for SES Video in Africa. “With the deadline for the analogue switch-off looming in both countries – 2020 in Ghana and 2021 in Nigeria – the 2019 Satellite Monitor findings confirm that end consumers in regions going through digital migration are satisfied with satellite TV and choosing it for its better value proposition and variety of free-to-air offerings, rather than purchasing new hardware and switching to digital terrestrial TV.”

This SES annual market research offers a comprehensive and in-depth analysis into the TV market in each country it surveys and is designed to assess the development of TV reception modes and SES’s total reach in the market, as well as to serve as a benchmark for the TV and satellite industry. In 2019, Ghana and Nigeria were the main surveyed African countries as they stand as the most dynamic and highly penetrated TV markets in sub-Saharan Africa and have been surveyed by SES since 2015.

Kelechi Deca