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Multichoice has come under fire in Africa over ‘ancient content’ and repeats of broadcasts on its DStv’s channels. The pay-TV operator has gained notoriety for its frequent repetition of contents which may mean its inability to procure new contents and desire to cut cost while charging customers rising fees.
Meanwhile, Netflix has seen a rise in subscriptions across Africa as internet connectivity improves and subscribers make a run for more recent contents.
In South Africa, a petition on change.org has been signed by 189,385 people so far, demanding DStv to give South African customers a payment break during COVID-19.
In Nigeria, the consumer protection agency in inundated with petitions by customers angry that the operator’s practice of offering ‘ancient content’ with ‘annoying’ repeats of broadcast contents is predatory.
On repeated content, Multichoice acknowledged their customer discontentment, saying that it is currently working with channel partners on decreasing the number of repeats and delivering more fresh content on DStv.
Discounted Subscription
South African subscribers are reportedly accusing DStv of discounting subscription fees in other countries such as Nigeria while ignoring their largest market.
There are over 8.2 million DStv subscribers in South Africa and approximately 10.7 million subscribers from the rest of Africa.
Martin Mabutho, MultiChoice Nigeria’s Chief Commercial Officer of MultiChoice, said that the discounts offered to Nigeria’s subscribers were a way of thanking the consumers for their consistent loyalty.
GOtv and DStv subscribers in Nigeria have been given discounts of 74 percent and 44 percent respectively – in an effort to ease the pressure of the ongoing socio-economic crisis due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Many subscribers have also expressed their displeasure at DStv for continuing to charge premium rates while no longer airing live sports events.
A #DSTVMustFall hashtag has been trending for the past few weeks calling on DStv to decrease their subscription charges.
The subscribers also accused DStv of continuously repeating movies while still charging a lot of money.
Multichoice Uganda released a statement explaining why they are not offering subscription discounts.
The statement said that although MultiChoice is unable to give free subscriptions to Ugandans at this time, it had launched the “DStv Tweyanziza” and GOtv “Mwebale Nnyo” offers as a gesture to give the customers more value during this difficult time.
Original pre-edited content: www.observer.ug
