MultiChoice celebrates 2 million subscribers

MultiChoice South Africa announced today that its combined subscriber base in South Africa and the Africa business has reached the two million mark.

The South Africa subscriber base alone today stands at just under 1.5 million DStv subscribers. This tremendous growth demonstrates the superior quality of the DStv platform and the overall offering enjoyed by MultiChoice customers.

“The growth of our business has been an exciting and challenging journey, and over the years we have been working hard to enhance and refine our product offering to make DStv a world class platform for television entertainment. Our first milestone came in 2005 when we registered the 1 000 000th DStv subscriber in South Africa, and we are pleased that we have managed to doubled this number across the continent. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for the loyal and continued support from our customers” said Nolo Letele, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa.

MultiChoice is determined to remain the leading pay television operator in South Africa and is now focussed on accelerating the roll out of its business strategy which is centred on consistent growth. It has introduced varied tiers of its DStv bouquet to meet demand across all income segments and continues to enhance the television viewing experience with innovative offerings using cutting edge technology.

Currently, the company provides four DStv bouquets, giving customers a choice to subscribe for a service that suits their lifestyle and their pocket. These are DStv Premium, which is targeted at high-income earners and provides more than 70 video channels, 40 audio channels, 6 data channels and 28 radio stations. DStv Compact targets the middle income bracket and offers subscribers 27 video channels, 5 data channels and 28 radio stations. DStv Select targets the lower to middle income bracket and provides customers 16 video channels and 4 audio channels. The entry level bouquet is DStv EasyView, which was introduced in 2002 with only four channels and has been revamped to improve the service and now includes 10 video channels, five data channels and 28 radio stations.

“We have seen an excellent growth in our Compact bouquet subscribers since its introduction in 2005. We currently have just under 170 000 subscribers. The success of our bouquets is a result of the excellent choice of our content that we bring our subscribers. The DStv subscriber gets the best in movies, sport, news, drama, documentaries, music etc. In the last few years we have introduced some of the world’s best channels on our bouquet, while we continue to investigate new exciting channels on an ongoing basis,” Nolo continued.

Apart from an excellent channel line up, MultiChoice has revolutionalised television viewing in South Africa. The electronic programme guide has made channel surfing an enjoyable experience and has enabled subscribers to plan their viewing in advance. The PVR has made it possible for television viewers to pause, rewind and fast forward live programmes while watching.

The latest innovations which are being tested include true live broadcast on a cellphone, DStv broadband via a personal computer, video on demand and High Definition television. The latter is set to bring clarity of image such as never been seen before on our television screens.

The phenomenal story of the growth of MultiChoice represents a true success story of the development of pay television in South Africa and the continent.