DStv testing weekly subscriptions

DStv owner MultiChoice has started piloting weekly subscriptions in Uganda, which will roll out to other markets if the trial is successful.

MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela told the Sunday Times that the company introduced the weekly subscriptions seven weeks ago and that it should have a good idea of the trial’s success within three to six months.

The trial aims to better align subscription periods with customers’ cash flows. If successful, MultiChoice will consider offering weekly subscriptions in other markets.

“It’s a big change and we think when people are struggling — as we have seen — offering them weekly passes will help in the same way cellphone prepaid has changed the mobile industry,” said Mawela.

When asked about offering a bundle through which customers can choose their own channels, Mawela said MultiChoice still doesn’t believe such a structure will work..

However, he said the company was researching an offering where customers could get a base product and then add channels to it.

Mawela’s remarks follow the release of MultiChoice’s results for the year ended 31 March 2025, for which it reported a net profit of R2.02 billion.

This represented a R4.54 billion swing from the R2.52 billion loss it reported as of 31 March 2024.

Much of the swing can be attributed to MultiChoice’s sale of a 60% stake in its insurance business to Sanlam in late November 2024.

The group’s revenue for the period declined 9% year-over-year, which it said was the result of an 11% decline in subscription revenues.

It should be noted that MultiChoice South Africa’s revenue was slightly up year-on-year at R41.73 billion as of 31 March 2025. However, its Rest of Africa and Showmax operations took a significant hit.

MultiChoice hopes to better retain customers in key markets by offering weekly subscriptions.

Its results for the 2024/25 financial year revealed declines in 90-day active subscribers and overall subscriber numbers.

Subscribers were down 8% from 15.69 million as of 31 March 2024 to 14.51 million as of 31 March 2025. 90-day active subscribers declined by 11% to 18.59 million during the period.

“Linear subscribers were down 1.2 million or 8% YoY to 14.5 million active subscribers, with the loss evenly split between South Africa (0.6m) and Rest of Africa (0.6m),” the MultiChoice Group said.

“Although reflecting an improvement on FY24 trends, this indicates ongoing broad-based pressure across the group’s entire customer base.”

DStv considering sports-only packages

MultiChoice is considering unbundling its SuperSport line-up from other DStv channels as part of a broad review to address changing customer preferences.

It said it has accelerated its efforts to explore potential changes to the channel composition of its DStv packages.

“This includes considering whether certain bundled elements, such as SuperSport and General Entertainment, could be offered differently in future,” it told MyBroadband.

However, it noted that the initiative is in its early stages and that it is still assessing its commercial impact and customer value.

“It is also too early to comment on the specifics of any potential model — including whether changes would be optional or how pricing might be structured,” MultiChoice said.

“We remain committed to delivering flexibility and value to our customers and will share further updates as and when there is meaningful progress to report.”

This won’t be the first time MultiChoice has considered splitting its DStv packages to offer sports channels separately.

In September 2021, it began gauging interest in a DStv Flex product, an entertainment pack of 67 channels, including general entertainment, kids, news, and free-to-air channels, to which Sports Packs could be added.

Just the core Entertainment Pack would be mandatory, and customers could choose to switch Sport Pack subscriptions on and off on a month-to-month basis.

This would allow them to save money during the off-seasons of their favourite sports.

In July 2024, MultiChoice said that DStv Flex was one of many product ideas it had tested with customers and implied it was no longer investigating the product.