MultiChoice loses more than 100 000 subscribers – blames load shedding and economy

With South Africans grappling to make ends meet, DStv owner MultiChoice said it has lost more than 100 000 subscribers at the end of March. It blamed load shedding and the economy for the loss.

The pay TV broadcaster released its released its results for the financial year ended 31 March 2023 on Wednesday.

MultiChoice admitted to losing billions in the financial year suffering a loss of R2.9 billion, erasing its gains from the same period in 2022 when it made R2.9 billion in profits.

The company has 9.3 million subscribers in South Africa, with 57% of those subscribed to the cheaper packages such as Family, Access and EasyView.

Load shedding to blame

MultiChoice said load shedding and the struggling economy had a negative impact on its South African subscriber base.

“At a time when consumers were already battling with interest rate hikes, elevated inflation and high levels of unemployment, load shedding moved from being intermittent to becoming a permanent fixture in customers’ lives.

“This has had a negative impact on the South African subscriber base and activity levels, with a noticeable increase in churn when load shedding reaches stage 4 and above, even when consumers have disposable income,” MultiChoice said.

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Subscribers decline

MultiChoice results showed subscribers declined from 8.16 million to 8.016 million between 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2023, a reduction of roughly 144 000 or 1.8%.

In 2021 and 2022, the decline was much lower — from 8.177 million to 8.16 million — a loss of about 17 000 year-end subscribers.

“The strong performance in the rest of Africa, which added 1.4 million subscribers, was underpinned by the decoder subsidy and marketing investments for the Fifa World Cup.”

In contrast, the South African consumer environment weakened sharply, especially in the second half of the financial year, it said.

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