{"id":539275,"date":"2024-06-03T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=539275"},"modified":"2024-06-03T10:15:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T08:15:01","slug":"dstv-channel-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/539275-dstv-channel-slump.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv channel slump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MultiChoice&#8217;s DStv has significantly slowed its channel additions and removals over the past two years, adding just three channels since 15 December 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The pay-TV broadcaster has seen its South African subscriber growth slow considerably over the past five years and begin to decline, placing it under substantial financial pressure.<\/p>\n<p>DStv has added one and removed one channel from its catalogue so far in 2024. However, the removal wasn&#8217;t its decision.<\/p>\n<p>WildEarth \u2014 formerly channel 183 \u2014 was pulled from DStv on 30 April after the channel&#8217;s chair, Andr\u00e9 Crawford-Brunt, said it isn&#8217;t viable for the company to continue airing its content on DStv <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/530861-dstv-loses-major-local-channel.html\">without compensation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On 1 April, DStv added the channel 1Max, offering Premium and Compact Plus subscribers access to select content from MultiChoice&#8217;s Showmax.<\/p>\n<p>The pay-TV broadcaster added only two channels and removed one throughout 2023.<\/p>\n<p>However, 2022 is a stark comparison. DStv added seven channels and removed four over the year.<\/p>\n<p>The MultiChoice-owned broadcaster saw its overall subscriber numbers decline for the first time during the first half of the 2023\/24 financial year \u2014 a first for the broadcaster.<\/p>\n<p>MultiChoice reports its 90-day active DStv subscriber figures in three segments as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Premium<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Premium and Compact Plus<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mid-market<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Compact, Family, and Commercial<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mass market<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Extra, Access, EasyView<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Premium segment subscribers declined by <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/537203-south-africans-dumping-dstv-2.html\">between 2% and 9% yearly<\/a> from September 2019 to September 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Mid-market segment subscribers last grew between September 2020 and September 2021. They have been on a decline since.<\/p>\n<p>The Mass market had relatively high subscriber growth between September 2019 and September 2021. However, DStv reported a decline for the segment between September 2022 and September 2023.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-537217\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DStv-subscriber-growth-or-decrease-graph-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DStv-subscriber-growth-or-decrease-graph-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DStv-subscriber-growth-or-decrease-graph-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DStv-subscriber-growth-or-decrease-graph-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DStv-subscriber-growth-or-decrease-graph-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A likely driver behind these declines is the pressure DStv is facing from international streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Netflix.<\/p>\n<p>These services are significantly more affordable than DStv&#8217;s decoder and streaming packages, and often offer more flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies acknowledge the threat posed to broadcasters by streaming services in its <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2024-2025_DCDT_APP-signed_compressed.pdf\">annual performance plan for 2024\/25<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On-demand music and video online streaming services are seriously disrupting the industry globally,&#8221; it stated<\/p>\n<p>Some subscribers who dumped DStv may have gotten fed up with the lack of content on its existing channels.<\/p>\n<p>Many have complained about the high number of repeats on many of its channels and the lack of new content.<\/p>\n<p>DStv&#8217;s financial situation could be partly to blame for the decision-making behind its channel changes.<\/p>\n<p>The broadcaster is under financial pressure, with MultiChoice&#8217;s half-year results for the 2023\/24 financial year revealing that its <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/515201-multichoice-reports-r911-million-loss.html#:~:text=It%20is%20the%20first%20time,decreasing%20over%2017%25%20from%20R6.\">profits had shrunk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Across all its operations, MultiChoice saw its profit plummet 22% from R6.2 billion to R4.8 billion.<\/p>\n<p>It said load-shedding, cost pressures on consumers, and a depreciation in the value of local currencies against the US dollar had contributed to DStv&#8217;s poor results.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-520999\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/MultiChoice-group-share-price-2023-to-early-2024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1191\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/MultiChoice-group-share-price-2023-to-early-2024.jpg 1191w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/MultiChoice-group-share-price-2023-to-early-2024-600x239.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/MultiChoice-group-share-price-2023-to-early-2024-800x318.jpg 800w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/MultiChoice-group-share-price-2023-to-early-2024-768x306.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1191px) 100vw, 1191px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Investors have also grown sceptical of MultiChoice&#8217;s performance and outlook.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#8217;s share price closed at a record low of R63.21 on 17 November 2023, having nearly halved since the start of the year.<\/p>\n<p>It has bounced back significantly since, closing at R113.00 on Thursday, 30 May 2024.<\/p>\n<p>One of DStv&#8217;s key cards is its vast sports broadcasting rights and local content catalogue.<\/p>\n<p>However, its dominance over sports broadcasting could be under threat, with international streaming services increasingly seeking to secure sports broadcasting rights.<\/p>\n<p>The table below summarises DStv&#8217;s channel changes from January 2022 to June 2024.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mybb_table\">\n<div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" style=\"width: 100%;\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"7\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #003366; font-weight: bold; color: #fff;\">\n<th style=\"text-align: center; width: 83.1277%;\" colspan=\"2\">DStv Channel changes from January 2022 to June 2024<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #cccccc;\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; width: 50%;\"><strong>Added<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; width: 50%;\"><strong>Dropped<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #f5f5f5;\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; width: 50%;\" colspan=\"2\"><strong>2024<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; width: 50%;\"><strong>1Max\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 17 April 2024<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; width: 50%;\"><strong>WildEarth<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 30 April 2024<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #f5f5f5;\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" colspan=\"2\"><strong>2023<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Play Room\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 6 November 2023<br \/>\n<strong>NWTV\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 30 November 2023<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>CCTV-4\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 31 March 2023<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #f5f5f5;\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" colspan=\"2\"><strong>2022<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Dreamworks\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 18 March 2022<br \/>\n<strong>KIX\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 31 March 2022<br \/>\n<strong>Hilaal TV<\/strong> \u2014 23 June 2022<br \/>\n<strong>NHK World-Japan<\/strong> \u2014 1 July 2022<br \/>\n<strong>Movie Room<\/strong> \u2014 27 August 2022<br \/>\n<strong>Moonbugs Kids Channel\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 20 October 2022<br \/>\n<strong>BBC UKTV<\/strong> \u2014 15 December 2022<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RT<\/strong> \u2014 2 March 2022<br \/>\n<strong>Lifetime<\/strong> \u2014 1 May 2022<br \/>\n<strong>ITV<\/strong> \u2014 17 June 2022<br \/>\n<strong>FliekNET<\/strong> \u2014 15 July 2022<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DStv has only added three channels to its catalogue since December 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":499415,"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_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[39088,12857,85,12747,35,475,2054,52823],"class_list":["post-539275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-disney","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-premium","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-streaming-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539275"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":539323,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539275\/revisions\/539323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}