MultiChoice Welcomes Competition
“Multichoice is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a commercial satellite broadcast licence and would like to congratulate other successful applicants that were announced today,” the company said in an official press statement.
“This is an exciting development for us and one which will have a positive impact in our industry. We believe competition will attract investment into the broadcasting industry and the South African economy in general. It will also stimulate growth of the pay television market and ensure that consumers are provided with choice and more diversity of content” said Nolo Letele, CEO of Multichoice South Africa.
MultiChoice pioneered pay television and satellite digital television in South Africa, and today the company has more than 1.4 million subscribers locally.
Its bouquet offering has also grown and it now caters for different market segments – the Premium bouquet targets the upper end of the market at R439 per month, the Compact bouquet targets the middle market (LSM 5 – 7) at R239 per month, and the recently launched DStv Select targets the lower end of the market at R139 per month.
Multichoice says that it wants to remain the leading pay television operator in South Africa by continuously bringing innovation to the market and being at the forefront of delivering cutting edge broadcasting technology.
“The company is currently testing and conducting trials on a number of exciting television platforms and delivery methods. These include mobile TV using DVB-H standard, DStv broadband and High definition TV,” Multichoice said.
Preparing for competition
While the company officially welcomed competition, recent media reports suggest that Multichoice is revamping its content by signing new exclusive TV rights in anticipation of competitors entering its space.
This will make it difficult for new entrants to compete with Multichoice. Telkom Media, which is widely considered to be the strongest new entrant in the market, said that they would like to see a more equal playing field when it comes to content.
Long term exclusivity contracts on content, typically associated with sporting events like rugby and soccer leagues, can mean that the new Pay-TV players may not be able to bring these events to their subscribers.
The market will however play itself out in the next few years, and partnerships on both content and delivery of content are definitely not out of the question.
The biggest winners in the new, more competitive pay-TV arena are likely to be consumers as they will hopefully receive a wider choice of programmes at lower prices.
Loading ...