DStv on track to become the next SABC

[Daniel Puchert]

DStv turning into SABC

DStv's "arrogance" and "complacency" during its golden years as South Africa's dominant broadcaster has set the company on the same course as the once-popular SABC.

That is according to experienced broadcasting journalist Thinus Ferreira, who shared his perspective on the reasons for DStv's subscriber drop and declining popularity.

 

[deweyzeph]

Even a 6 year old child knows that if you keep increasing prices while demand for your product is dropping you are destined for oblivion. No one at Multichoice seems have come to this realisation yet.

 

[ThinkCentre]

A good comparison for MBB to do, is to compare the way DSTV and Netflix and other similar businesses increased their subscriptions over the last 10 years! It will be a shock for Multichoice because they thought that they can keep South Africa at ransom with their sport.

 

[Insidus]

I mean eMedia, MultiChoice and SABC aren't run by Gen Z from what I understand here. I think it's pointless now to sort of readjust DStv if those alternatives exist and consumers won't just come back.

 

[cda]

Even a 6 year old child knows that if you keep increasing prices while demand for your product is dropping you are destined for oblivion. No one at Multichoice seems have come to this realisation yet.

Especially so when demand is linked to the price of a luxury good. Classic case of monopoly failure.

You'd think executives knew basic economics, but it seems all too common in SA that they are blind to basic economics and instead use bullying and price gouging to try fix their balance sheet. Remember when MTN was trying to get the government to stop anyone who made messaging apps from undercutting their ridiculous SMS prices?

I will say though that DStv had various streaming plays for a very long time, and it was promising if they had invested in it but it was always a shoe string budget with no room for reliability which is essential.

The problem was the constant delusion that most people in SA would never have bandwidth for streaming. That was true for the career terms of that management but they all have short term views - why bother securing the future of a company when you plan to cash out in 5 years.

As a consultant there for many years it was painful to watch, but the company culture is also so toxic and the product so bad one doesn't care what happens honestly after you've spent a week there.

 

[Insidus]

A good comparison for MBB to do, is to compare the way DSTV and Netflix and other similar businesses increased their subscriptions over the last 10 years! It will be a shock for Multichoice because they thought that they can keep South Africa at ransom with their sport.

I don't think there's much anyone can do there when it comes to sports it can be expensive and the only company in Africa that can afford it is MultiChoice. Sports drives in DStv subscriptions anything else is on Netflix or Showmax honestly the only their potential owners can do is offer discounts.

 

[deweyzeph]

I don't think there's much anyone can do there when it comes to sports it can be expensive and the only company in Africa that can afford it is MultiChoice. Sports drives in DStv subscriptions anything else is on Netflix or Showmax honestly the only their potential owners can do is offer discounts.

I wouldn't be surprised if DSTV became an almost exclusive sports streaming service eventually and ditched the rest of its programming which is costing it money. If people are only paying for the sport then what's the point in broadcasting the rest.

 

[Enzo Matrix]

No. Dtsv on track to be the next telkom. Get your insults right ffs

 

[John Alfred white]

DStv turning into SABC

DStv's "arrogance" and "complacency" during its golden years as South Africa's dominant broadcaster has set the company on the same course as the once-popular SABC.

That is according to experienced broadcasting journalist Thinus Ferreira, who shared his perspective on the reasons for DStv's subscriber drop and declining popularity.

Well said that man

 

[Kosmik]

I mean eMedia, MultiChoice and SABC aren't run by Gen Z from what I understand here. I think it's pointless now to sort of readjust DStv if those alternatives exist and consumers won't just come back.

Htf is that relevant?

 

[Enzo Matrix]

I mean eMedia, MultiChoice and SABC aren't run by Gen Z from what I understand here. I think it's pointless now to sort of readjust DStv if those alternatives exist and consumers won't just come back.

Straight onto ignore list. Alt profile or what?

 

[object]

MyBroadband turning into the TMZ of tech news

 

[Fuzzbox]

-1 Stream
-1000000 Subscriber's

 

[Insidus]

Htf is that relevant?

Again, Thinus talks about the lack of research MultiChoice has done in the past years. A majority of youth use the internet and DStv is for the middle-aged and upwards which is depressing cause if you want a product to succeed you need to adapt with the current demographic and DStv is hovering around the same consumers as ANC.

Straight onto ignore list. Alt profile or what?

It is a public platform and I'm not saying "DStv is a no. 1" plenty not to love these days I'd prefer playing my GameBoy over them.

 

[Kosmik]

Again, Thinus talks about the lack of research MultiChoice has done in the past years. A majority of youth use the internet and DStv is for the middle-aged and upwards which is depressing cause if you want a product to succeed you need to adapt with the current demographic and DStv is hovering around the same consumers as ANC.

I'm trying to make sense of this but you make it difficult. So let's bite, what makes DSTV targeted at middle aged vs being a platform that merely parrots ip and content the same around the world?

 

[Insidus]

I'm trying to make sense of this but you make it difficult. So let's bite, what makes DSTV targeted at middle aged vs being a platform that merely parrots ip and content the same around the world?

Not much changes have been seen with DStv in terms of "new content" as Judge Judy is still airing on CBS Reality and most TV channels still rely on long format soaps like Binnelanders. No k-pop or even anime which is Gen Z entertainment I'm not saying they should do away with the current lineup but expand on that supposed diversity.

 

[Swa]

Monopolies rarely see when the writing's on the wall and they're no longer the only game in town.

 

[Kosmik]

Not much changes have been seen with DStv in terms of "new content" as Judge Judy is still airing on CBS Reality and most TV channels still rely on long format soaps like Binnelanders. No k-pop or even anime which is Gen Z entertainment I'm not saying they should do away with the current lineup but expand on that supposed diversity.

They used to have anime and whether or not kpop is anything heck knows but to take on anime you have to compete with something like crunchyroll which can be had for R39 a month, not a good business strategy.

They will target the demographic where the money is and perform surveys etc accordingly but they will also easily follow what other global broadcasters do.

The platform and tech is more of a problem than content choice. Satellite is a constant cost, streaming is more expensive per user in DRM, bandwidth and load. They won't pull out of satellite because africa still lacks major and affordable broadband penetration so it has thier largest reach for cost. Streaming is more of a opex cost and can scale but they need to ensure non abuse, hence the crackdowns of account sharing etc accross many streaming providers.

 

[Swa]

Especially so when demand is linked to the price of a luxury good. Classic case of monopoly failure.

You'd think executives knew basic economics, but it seems all too common in SA that they are blind to basic economics and instead use bullying and price gouging to try fix their balance sheet. Remember when MTN was trying to get the government to stop anyone who made messaging apps from undercutting their ridiculous SMS prices?

I will say though that DStv had various streaming plays for a very long time, and it was promising if they had invested in it but it was always a shoe string budget with no room for reliability which is essential.

The problem was the constant delusion that most people in SA would never have bandwidth for streaming. That was true for the career terms of that management but they all have short term views - why bother securing the future of a company when you plan to cash out in 5 years.

As a consultant there for many years it was painful to watch, but the company culture is also so toxic and the product so bad one doesn't care what happens honestly after you've spent a week there.

A very good informative post. Watching the broadcasting and communications space for 25 years now I can say with certainty corporates in SA have no idea of economics 101. They all have the idea of selling the most restrictive product to as few people as possible for as much as possible. They also seem to have a disdain for customers where the consumer is seen as the enemy.

When I told one executive that the customer is always right he laughed at this because they have the idea their product is one you have to and will use because there's nothing else. Guess what, I use another provider and have never used them again for my internet.

 

[Swa]

They used to have anime and whether or not kpop is anything heck knows but to take on anime you have to compete with something like crunchyroll which can be had for R39 a month, not a good business strategy.

They will target the demographic where the money is and perform surveys etc accordingly but they will also easily follow what other global broadcasters do.

The platform and tech is more of a problem than content choice. Satellite is a constant cost, streaming is more expensive per user in DRM, bandwidth and load. They won't pull out of satellite because africa still lacks major and affordable broadband penetration so it has thier largest reach for cost. Streaming is more of a opex cost and can scale but they need to ensure non abuse, hence the crackdowns of account sharing etc accross many streaming providers.

Their anime was rather good. You struggled finding some of the stuff legally and it's also not that it was supposed to be a main isolated channel but part of the package. They also inexplicably just cancelled their esports channel recently.