Goodbye DStv Malawi

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Goodbye DStv Malawi

MultiChoice has announced the withdrawal of DStv services from Malawi with immediate effect after the country's government succeeded in blocking its latest price hikes.

The broadcaster said the decision followed the injunction issued by the High Court in Lilongwe in a matter between MultiChoice Malawi (MCM) and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), prohibiting an adjustment to the DStv tariffs.

 

[Tman*]

Cutting off its nose LMAO

 

[DapperDanMan]

DStv and Telkom are trying real hard to be remembered ... for idiocy.

 

[Fuzzbox]

Now they have to watch SABC.

 

[bwana]

Now they have to watch SABC.

In Malawi?

 

[Pak Fa Fui]

That would have been a nice meeting to be apart of, oh well fck Malawi lets just leave

 

[deweyzeph]

As much as I despise Multichoice, I despise government meddling in the free market even more. Malawi needs companies like Multichoice much more than Multichoice needs Malawi.

 

[Skerminkel]

At those prices the Malawian market cannot be too big. It is a fair bit more expensive than here for a much smaller market.

 

[lkpat]

Dear government. No more price hikes for Multichoice.
Yours sincerely.
The public.

 

[Thugscub]

DSTV puke.

 

[Nod]

Rage quit?

 

[NeonNinja]

Looking for the clap emoji!

 

[j4ck455]

How much does a legacy satellite broadcasting system cost versus an Internet streamed service?

If legacy satellite broadcasting was still a competitive way of operating, MonoChoice would not have ventured into Internet-based streaming services.

Shutting down DSTV in Malawi (and expect the same in other African countries) will likely save MonoChoice money, although it probably depends on the number of premium DSTV subscribers there are in Malawi (I'm guessing not that many).

 

[lkpat]

Looking for the clap emoji!

There's an emoji for that?

 

[NeonNinja]

There's an emoji for that?

Clapping hands that is. Not enabled by MyBB seemingly.

 

[morbill]

Timing, European football season about to start

 

[mypetcow]

The very people in government blocking Multichoice’s price increase and imposing fines or imprisonment on management if they don’t comply are most likely subscribers themselves and will be affected directly…I wonder what they will now watch.

I wonder if this also impacts Dstv Go.

 

[WalkWithMe]

How much does a legacy satellite broadcasting system cost versus an Internet streamed service?

If legacy satellite broadcasting was still a competitive way of operating, MonoChoice would not have ventured into Internet-based streaming services.

Shutting down DSTV in Malawi (and expect the same in other African countries) will likely save MonoChoice money, although it probably depends on the number of premium DSTV subscribers there are in Malawi (I'm guessing not that many).

There is 1 satellite feeding the region, streaming means servers, cache's and bandwidth. Which is also more of an issue for the viewer. Most people in Africa use capped mobile data, fibre access is limited to major metro areas. Satellite reaches everywhere with no data costs or slowing down.
Systems to bill etc is one, they may have a local server to "process" transactions. But the backend is one.

It will save Multichoice Africa paying licence fees, taxes etc in the Malawi.

People will opt to pay for the service through another country, or stream. They will likely not lose but win. Officially the product is just not available in Malawi.

 

[epah]

Who are we kidding, it is not like DSTV was making any money from Malawians either way, there is only 100 rich people in that country.

 

[LazyLion]

They probably don't have a huge amount of subscribers in that country anyway, otherwise they wouldn't be doing this.
Probably not really financially lucrative for them either way....