Pay TV company Multichoice has recently announced plans to increase its prices for 2016. The company usually announces its annual price increases at the end of February and the DSTV price increases come into effect by April.
The weaker rand means that subscribers have to bear the brunt of the sliding currency.
While the US is experiencing increased Pay TV subscriber losses, South African consumers continue to subscribe to DSTV despite increases.
Trends in South Africa
“Pay TV offers a wide array variety of programming choices like news and entertainment for a growing middle class audience, compared to ‘domestic’ terrestrial TV stations,” said Dr Musa Ndlovu, a media expert and a senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Film and Media Studies.
Some families club together to pay the monthly annual subscription fee.
What the DSTV Price increases mean:
South Africans who subscribe to DSTV will have to fork out additional money when annual price increases come into effect from 1 April. DSTV has faced criticism from consumers since announcing the price hike. Following a social media outcry, DSTV said:
“We’ve looked at all factors and only adjusted prices where it’s unavoidable.”
DSTV Premium, DSTV Extra and DSTV Compact packages are increasing by 8% or more – higher than inflation.
Multichoice sparked consumer outrage in 2015 when DSTV subscriptions were upped by between 21% and 30% in Zambia, while prices were also hiked in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.
“We buy most of this fantastic content in foreign currency and due to the depreciation of the rand by 29% since April 2015, our costs have gone up dramatically,” Multichoice told Channel24.
How much can you expect to pay?
- DSTV Premium R699 to R759
- DSTV Extra R425 to R459
- DSTV Compact R319 to R345
- DSTV Select R199 to R219
- DSTV Family R199 to R219
- DSTV AccessR99
- DSTV EasyViewR39 to R29
- MNet analogue R335 to R369