If you make the right amount of noise your cries just might be heard. Well, that’s the lesson from MultiChoice anyway. The media giant has reduced the prices of its DStv bouquets across all African markets.
With effect from the 1st of May 2015, the prices of all DStv packages will be drastically reduced. Some packages like HD PVR Premium, DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus have been reduced by 40% while DStv Access, DStv Family and DStv Compact have been reduced by 15%. This means that you can access SuperSport for only $33 a month! The Xtra View Access Fee remains unchanged.
It’s a climb down from the price increases that were announced last month and have been put into effect today. The new price structure is reflected in the table below.
| Bouquet | Current Monthly Price($US) | New Monthly Price ($US) |
|---|---|---|
| Access | 11 | 9 |
| Family | 21 | 18 |
| Compact | 32 | 27 |
| Compact Plus | 55 | 33 |
| Premium | 81 | 48 |
| HD PVR Premium | 92 | 55 |
| Xtra View Access Fee | 11 | 11 |
In a press statement, MultiChoice has mentioned how this action was a response to the massive backlash that the Naspers owned entity received from its consumers throughout Africa when it effected its annual price increase.
Locally, Zimbabwean consumers weren’t amused, and there was an avalanche of complaints from affected parties. In countries like Zambia, thousands of DStv subscribers even went as far as signing a petition, and in West Africa, some governments were called on by their citizens to reign in MultiChoice for monopolistic behaviour.
While this seems like a logical reason for the price reduction, it looks like MultiChoice is actually preparing for a more competitive environment. A lot of entertainment options have popped up in the past few years but have failed to really disrupt the dominance DStv has in Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa.
Now, the landscape is changing. The rapid rollout of fibre, coupled with entrants like VOD providers in the form of Aflix TV and iROKO has meant that people are relying less and less on one provider of entertainment. In the case of Zimbabwe, we have Econet at advanced stages of the launch of its ipidi service and with digital migration all but complete, there’s going to be an improvement in entertainment from state broadcaster ZBC, with its 6 channels and Web TV.
The good news about this is that while MultiChoice braces itself for competition, DStv has just gotten so much more affordable.
Update: We’d all love this, but this was an April Fools story.
27 comments
Nice April fools joke maybe??
What a classic April fools joke!!!
Its actually and April fools joke! Multichoice will actually be increasing its prices by 40% and 15% for the bouquets in May
Silly
what a joke
$50 per month just to get the two channels I want is still way too much. This is just as unbelievable as $75 per month. Far cheaper to purchase DVDs for the rare times I get to watch TV.
u got me there……hahaha nice april fools
Nice one! hahahaha
zvingaitika kupi izvi?
Lolest you had me there I was pretty chuffed till I realised the date
Hazviitike mu Zim izvi , good fools day prank !!!!
They have infact increased the prices
A prank for april fools day 😉
This was good but this one abt dstv competitor killed me http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/122932-mybroadband-launches-dstv-competitor.html
xaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, musatidaro boys
piss-poor april fools joke…….
whatsupp is an NSA project.
This was really going going to be good news. The way you wrote this make me wonder if your other articles are true!
mmmmmm you got me there, was really exicited for a minute coz i read this on the 2 of April only to see the disclaimer at the end #update
but nxa for raising my expectations for nothing
!@#K you!!!!
Nigel usadaro so
it wasnt FUNNY!!!!! nekunetsa kurikuita mari. amana so!!!
dont play with us our pockets are now empty vessels or calabash okay its seems like true but its a joke Dstvsa have already increase unincreased is Dstv access remains 100r
Son of a bitch
I Mis Dat!Oh God
Do you think this is a joke don’t make jokes like that ya boy
We have been pranked nxaa
We have been pranked
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