Advanced Television

multichoice

MultiChoice hires former ICASA boss

Keabetswe Modimoeng, the former chairman of South Africa’s communications regulator, has joined MultiChoice Africa, the segment of the pay-TV broadcaster’s interests outside of South Africa itself. His new position is described as Group Executive for Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations. He will also be a member of the MultiChoice Africa executive team. Modimoeng, a former […]

January 11, 2023By Chris Forrester

Forecast: Africa at 57m pay-TV subs by 2028

About 16 million pay-TV subscribers will be added in Africa between 2022 and 2028 to take the total to 57 million, according to the Africa Pay TV Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research. Subscriber numbers will climb by 38 per cent over this period, but pay-TV revenues will rise by only 29 per […]

January 9, 2023

MultiChoice hit by Malawi fine

Pan-African pay-TV operator MultiChoice has been fined 10 million Kwacha (€93,800) by Malawi for breaches of its licence conditions. However, DStv says the fine is unwarranted. Malawi’s Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) also ordered MultiChoice to refund DStv subscribers cash because DStv allegedly adjusted its local tariffs in July last year without pre-approval from MACRA. According […]

January 9, 2023By Chris Forrester

SABC wants more cash from DStv

South Africa’s public broadcaster, already suffering from a lack of licence fee income and a downturn in advertising, is facing a controversial arbitration over its ‘must carry’ obligations towards pay-TV operator MultiChoice. South Africa broadcasting regulator ICASA has admitted that its negotiations with DStv and SABC have reached an impasse. SABC COO Ian Plaatjes has […]

December 8, 2022By Chris Forrester

DStv warns African FTA broadcasters over World Cup

In years past there have been African and Middle East broadcasters who have happily stolen pay-TV’s exclusive coverage of key sporting events. DStv has now issued a clear warning to broadcasters in Africa saying, in essence, ‘hands off our signals’. The most blatant thefts of football signals occurred during the Saudi Arabian beoutQ transmissions of […]

November 8, 2022By Chris Forrester

MultiChoice warns of modest profits

South Africa’s MultiChoice has cautioned investors that its half-year results (to the end of September) will be affected by the increased costs of set-top box subsidies. The costs, of about R700 million (€40m) directly related to the take-up of subscribers for the FIFA World Cup. MultiChoice’s trading update said that its profits would rise by […]

November 7, 2022By Chris Forrester

WWE Network on Showmax in Africa

WWE and MultiChoice have announced a major broadcast partnership that will see streaming platform Showmax become the new home of WWE Network in Africa. The partnership incorporates all WWE Premium Live Events, including premium live event WrestleMania, as well as WWE Network’s library of original and archived programming available to stream on-demand. Additionally, SuperSport, the […]

November 2, 2022By Nik Roseveare

MultiChoice targets fibre users

South Africa’s MultiChoice is going after South Africa’s fibre-based users, and is launching an aggressive campaign to win potential customers seeking uncapped fibre access. It is offering a linked fibre service plus DStv pay-TV bundles at what are seen as ‘deeply discounted’ prices. DStv is currently promoting two options: The first offers a 25 MB/s […]

October 6, 2022By Chris Forrester

Report: Multichoice, Canal+ the future giant of African pay-TV?

Maxime Saada, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canal+ Group, confirmed earlier this month at a press conference that Bollore’s subsidiary has increased its stake in the capital of Multichoice, the leading South African pay-TV operator in Africa, to reach 26.26 per cent of the capital. The French group first took a 6.5 per […]

September 29, 2022

DStv launching 4K channels for World Cup

MultiChoice’s DStv says it will add a pair of 4K channels in readiness for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The tournament kicks off on November 20th. Nyiko Shiburi, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, speaking at the company’s annual media event in Johannesburg, said that a significant amount of technical work had been done […]

September 26, 2022By Chris Forrester