*The Multichoice Group, a South African-owned pay-TV giant reports a significant drop in its subscriber base in Nigeria, losing 243,000 subscribers from its DStv and GOtv services between April and September 2024, while attributing the situation to high inflation rate in the West African country

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The Multichoice Group, a South African-owned pay-TV giant has reported a significant drop in its Nigerian subscriber base, losing 243,000 subscribers from its DStv and GOtv services between April and September 2024 due to inflationary trend in the West African country.

The pay-TV giant disclosed decline in the company鈥檚 Interim Financial Results, released Tuesday, November 12, 2024, for the six months ending September 30.

According to Multichoice Nigeria, operators of DSTv and GOTv bouquets, the losses were attributed to high inflation rate in the country, which exceeds 30 percent, with soaring costs of food, electricity, and fuel making TV subscriptions less affordable for several consumers.

The company, in an earlier report for the fiscal year, ending March 2024, had noted an 18 percent reduction in its Nigerian subscriber base, though specific numbers were not disclosed at that time.

Multichoice as well highlighted sustained subscriber losses across its Rest of Africa operations, which saw a total decline of 566,000 subscribers in the six-month period under review.

This is an improvement from the previous six months, during which 803,000 subscribers were lost, according to report.

Besides, Multichoice Group disclosed that Zambia and Nigeria were the hardest-hit markets, together accounting for the majority of losses during the six-month period.

According to the report, Zambia鈥檚 subscriber base plummeted by 298,000, while Nigeria鈥檚 dropped by 243,000, with other African markets experiencing only a modest decline of 25,000 subscribers.

鈥淲ith the Rest of Africa business having seen a decline of 803k subscribers in 2H FY24, this rate of decline slowed to 566k in 1H FY25.

鈥淥f this decline, 298k related to Zambia and 243k related to Nigeria, with remaining markets on the continent reflecting only a minor decline of 25k,鈥� it stated.

It is recalled the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal, in Nigeria, June this year, ordered Multichoice to provide a one-month free subscription to its subscribers across the country.

The Tribunal fined Multichoice Nigeria N150 million for disputing the court鈥檚 jurisdiction in Nigeria.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal’s issued the order to halt Multichoice from raising subscription fees for pay-TV consumers without proper notice.

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