More Nigerians shun subscription
renewals
DStv is currently grappling with falling
pay - tv subscrip - tion numbers in Nigeria
and other countries in the sub- Saharan
Africa, with over 288 ,000 subscribers
dumping the satellite television platform
in the last one year, New Telegraph has
learnt . It was gathered that the
subscribers ’ decision stemmed from the
annual service hike, which has made
service unaffordable to many, coupled
with the lowering purchasing power of
African majority .
However, Naspers , the parent company
of Multichoice , owners of DStv, has
attributed the poor subscriber number to
substantial price increases in order to
offset the impact of currency declines
and weaker consumer sentiment in the
region .
The company has vowed to minimise
further price increases for consumers in
order to reinvigorate growth by focusing
on managing and absorbing costs where
possible going forward . Naspers has
revealed that the loss of 288 ,000 direct -
to - home (DTH) pay- tv subscribers in sub -
Saharan Africa has prompted the
company to reposition its business in
order to deflect any potential negative
impacts.
Chief Financial Officer at Naspers , Mr .
Basil Sgourdos , said the company would
increase its focus on its Internet
businesses in a bid to recover from the
weakening subscriber number , according
to results for the year ended 31 March
2016.
“ The loss of DTH subscribers and the
effects of weakening currencies in sub-
Saharan Africa will have a significant
downward impact on earnings and cash
flows in the year ahead, ” Sgourdos told
ITWEB. While noting that in the year
ahead, the focus will be on continuing to
deliver top- line growth while scaling the
more established e - commerce businesses ,
Sgourdos said the company would invest
further in long - term growth
opportunities such as ShowMax, letgo
and ibibo , targeting video- entertainment
revenue . He noted : “ It could take some
time before the plans to reposition this
business will have a positive impact .
“ Our new subscription video- on- demand
service, ShowMax, had a good start in
South Africa with a deeper and more
customised content offering than
competitors and a focus on service
delivery , ” the company detailed in its
results announcement , which reported 21
per cent growth in earnings for its
business overall to $ 1 .2 billion .
Though, DStv has about 10 million
subscribers in the Sub- Sahara Africa, the
loss of 288 , 000 subscribers signals a
distress in the business, forcing the
company to leverage other business
platforms to up its revenue . However,
the company, which usually spends half
a billion dollars a year on acquisitions , is
“ on the lookout” for more deals , said
Chief Executive Officer, Bob Van Dijk.
“ We have also lost a lot of subscribers in
the last year in sub - Saharan Africa,
people have just not been able to afford
it . We bill in local currencies , but our
costs are in dollars. It is quite painful
when the currencies are running in the
wrong direction, ” Van Dijk said.
The development is coming even as more
Nigerians currently shun repeated phone
calls by DStv customer agents to renew
subscriptions for their bouquet , citing
current economic situations in the
country and high cost of subscriptions.
Nigerians have, in recent past ,
complained bitterly about the annual
service price in the pay- tv market that
has become more competitive with DStv
leading the pack in the price increase.
“ As a DStv subscriber, I can tell you that
it is over a year that I subscribed and I
can tell you that every now and then, I
get calls from DStv urging me to renew
my subscriptions .
The economic situation is not helping
matters , as subscribing to DStv service,
whose price they increase annually , is not
on my priority, ” said Adebayo Balogun.
Another subscriber, Mrs . Titi Idera
harped on the need for a pay - as-
youwatch billing system, as it is the case
in the telecoms industry .
“ There is , no doubt , that we are being
ripped off by DStv , which has continued
to increase service cost annually and yet
our leaders are not doing anything about
it . I just abandoned my subscription
because we now have richer TV contents
on our local television stations in Nigeria
now ,” she said. “ My brother , renewing
my subscription is not on my scale of
preference for now . There are other
pressing issues to spend money on.
Yes , I have also been receiving several
calls from DStv but practically , I can say I
have dumped subscription in the last 12
months, ” Chucks Chima , a businessman
at Ikeja , Lagos said. Other subscribers ,
who spoke with our correspondent at
different locations within Lagos
metropolis, maintained that they have
had to migrate from premium service to
a bouquet with lower price as they
grappled with the economic recession in
Nigeria .
A DStv customer attendant at the Ogba
Customer Centre of the pay - tv company ,
who spoke with New Telegraph on the
condition of anonymity, confirmed to our
correspondent on phone that the centre
has been witnessing low turnout of
customers who often come for
subscriptions on a daily basis .
“ I won’ t lie to you , people are no longer
coming to renew their subscriptions the
way they used to do before . They often
cite economic situations and our service
price increases , at times , as reason for
their apathy,” he said .
“ The truth is that the situation also
affects other customer centres around .”
Asked if the low turnout at service centre
is not associated to the uptake of existing
e - payment channels already created for
customers to make renew subscription ,
the customer attendant said: “ Well , I
want to believe that a similar thing is
happening both for physical
subscriptions and on epayment
channels .”
