Pay TV company Multichoice said due to economic decline in Nigeria its platforms DStv and GOtv have lost about 243,000 subscribers between April and September 2024.
According to its financial report published on Tuesday Multichoice noted that high cost of food, electricity, and petrol has forced many of its customers to ditch their decoders. The company said Nigeria and Zambia recorded the largest share of subscriber loss.
It added that the pressure on its subscriber base in Rest of Africa (RoA) operations continued from the previous year leading to a loss of 566,000 subscribers across the operations in the six months under review.
“The group’s linear subscriber base declined by 11% or 1.8m subscribers YoY to 14.9m active subscribers at 30 September 2024,” MultiChoice said.
“The loss in the Rest of Africa has been primarily due to the significant consumer pressure in Nigeria, where inflation has remained above 30% for the majority of the last 12 months and, more recently, due to extreme power disruptions in Zambia.
“Of this decline, 298k related to Zambia and 243k related to Nigeria, with remaining markets on the continent reflecting only a minor decline of 25k.”
On the foreign exchange (FX) rate, the company said the continued naira depreciation against the dollar has resulted in further losses on non-quasi-equity loans.
“The group held USD11m in cash in Nigeria at period-end, down from USD39m at end FY24, a consequence of consistent focus on remitting cash, the impact of translating the balance at the weaker naira and the write-off of the USD21m receivable relating to the cash held with Heritage Bank before its license was revoked and the bank was liquidated,” MultiChoice said.
On May 1, MultiChoice implemented an increase in subscription prices for DStv and GOtv packages — despite the tribunal ruling against it on April 25.
The next month, the tribunal fined MultiChoice N150 million and ordered the company to provide one-month free subscriptions on DStv and GOtv to Nigerians.
The company , however, vowed to appeal the ruling.
