Naspers, which owns the MultiChoice/DStv pay-TV operation in Africa, says that MultiChoice had grown its subscriber base by some 400,000 over the past year.

Naspers’ video entertainment division now has 13.9 million subscribers across Africa.

The division’s overall revenues grew 3 percent to $1.8 billion, and profits increased 6 percent to $211 million.

“The value strategy, aimed at growing the subscriber base and reducing costs, delivered a further $15-million in cost savings,” the media and Internet group said. The South African video entertainment business delivered “solid trading profits and generated meaningful cash flows”.

However, churn was up at its premium level, which Naspers put down to the financial challenges facing many markets in Africa, and not to competition from new entrants Netflix. ARPU has fallen from $27 a year ago to the current $25, as viewers traded down to lower-priced packages.

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