{"id":157289,"date":"2016-03-03T07:14:39","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T05:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=157289"},"modified":"2016-03-03T07:15:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T05:15:58","slug":"this-is-why-dstv-hiked-its-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/157289-this-is-why-dstv-hiked-its-prices.html","title":{"rendered":"This is why DStv hiked its prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice recently announced price increases to most of its DStv packages<\/strong><\/a>, with fees\u00a0going up by 8% or more.<\/p>\n

DStv Access and EasyView were spared, with EasyView seeing a price drop from R39 to R29 per month. Decoder insurance prices did not change.<\/p>\n

This was an unusually high price hike from MultiChoice, which typically raises prices in line with inflation [Read:\u00a0DStv prices – 2000 to 2016<\/a>]<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Stats SA said the average CPI for 2015 was 4.56% – compared to the hikes of 8% or more.<\/p>\n

The reason for the price hike, said MultiChoice, was the dramatic weakening of the rand in 2015 – with our currency losing 29% of its value since April 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Foreign currency] is a huge amount of our costs,\u201d said MultiChoice COO Mark Rayner.<\/p>\n

The biggest component of this is content, but its technology suppliers and satellite leases are also priced in US dollars.<\/p>\n

Overall, foreign currency makes up the majority of DStv\u2019s cost base, said Rayner, which means it is affected a lot by rand strength.<\/p>\n

While they can take forward cover to mitigate the effect of the weakening rand to a small degree, Rayner said they really had to look at their costs across all the areas of the business to keep prices in check.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
DStv packages<\/th>\n2015 price<\/th>\n2016 price<\/th>\n% increase<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Premium<\/td>\nR699<\/td>\nR759<\/td>\n8.58%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Extra<\/td>\nR425<\/td>\nR459<\/td>\n8.00%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Compact<\/td>\nR319<\/td>\nR345<\/td>\n8.15%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Family<\/td>\nR199<\/td>\nR219<\/td>\n10.05%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Select*<\/td>\nR199<\/td>\nR219<\/td>\n10.05%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Access<\/td>\nR99<\/td>\nR99<\/td>\n0.00%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv EasyView<\/td>\nR39<\/td>\nR29<\/td>\n-25.64%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
M-Net Analogue\/CSN*<\/td>\nR335<\/td>\nR369<\/td>\n10.15%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv specialist packages<\/th>\n2015 price<\/th>\n2016 price<\/th>\n% increase<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Indian<\/td>\nR319<\/td>\nR345<\/td>\n8.15%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv South Indian*<\/td>\nR239<\/td>\nR260<\/td>\n8.79%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Portuguesa<\/td>\nR410<\/td>\nR445<\/td>\n8.54%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv add-ons<\/th>\n2015 price<\/th>\n2016 price<\/th>\n% increase<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Access Fee<\/td>\nR80<\/td>\nR85<\/td>\n6.25%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BoxOffice PVR rentals<\/td>\nR30<\/td>\nR35<\/td>\n16.67%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv Indian add-on<\/td>\nR205<\/td>\nR220<\/td>\n7.32%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv South Indian add-on<\/td>\nR155<\/td>\nR170<\/td>\n9.68%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DStv\u00a0Portuguesa add-on<\/td>\nR205<\/td>\nR220<\/td>\n7.32%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*No longer on offer \u2013 only available to subscribers still on the package.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

How to cut costs when everything becomes more expensive<\/h3>\n

Rayner said\u00a0that on top of the weakening rand, DStv\u2019s input costs are rising in dollar terms too.<\/p>\n

They have a new satellite going up next year, Intelsat 36, which will cause a step-change in DStv\u2019s cost base.\u00a0Premium content and sports rights have also become significantly more expensive, he said.<\/p>\n

This means MultiChoice has had to look elsewhere to manage costs.<\/p>\n

Rayner said they have had conversations with suppliers to cut content, channels, or prices – depending on what rates well with viewers, and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice\u2019s equipment providers have also come to the party to help contain technology costs, he said.<\/p>\n

\"MultiChoice<\/a>

MultiChoice City<\/p><\/div>\n

The cost of exclusive licences, and the big move<\/h3>\n

Challenged on MultiChoice\u2019s exclusive licensing of content and its recent move to new offices<\/a><\/strong>, Rayner said the move had no material impact on costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were sprawled all over Randburg,\u201d he said. They decided to take a long-term view, considering MultiChoice\u2019s commitment to Randburg in terms of the infrastructure it had already deployed there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are actually savings there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Rayner said they have had to relook exclusive content licensing in light of the weakening rand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want to keep the very best content for our subscribers as far as we can afford.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to decide whether it’s something worth paying for exclusivity for. Those conversations are brought into sharp focus now when times are tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on DStv<\/h3>\n

DStv prices \u2013 2000 to 2016<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Think Netflix will kill DStv? Think again<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

DStv vs GOtv \u2013 prices and channels compared<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Netflix vs DStv \u2013 can South Africans cut the cord?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This is why DStv wants you on an Explora PVR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COO of MultiChoice answers questions about why this year\u2019s DStv price hike was as high as it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":135474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[85,35,2546,475],"class_list":["post-157289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-mark-rayner","tag-multichoice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157305,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157289\/revisions\/157305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}