By Umaru Fofana
As the world begins to come to terms with living with the coronavirus pandemic and reopening itself, albeit gradually, it is probably time to take some stock.
Three things that flourished during this tamed new normal life we have been living in the last three months or so are food, medical supplies, and technology – Including, of course, entertainment.
Amid the lockdown – partial or whole – many people have been confined to their home. Time spent outside has been shortened considerably and movement restricted substantially. So for those who can afford it, the demand for entertainment has soared even though the entertainment industry took a huge knock in that sport and reality shows shut shop or scaled down.
For many in lockdowns the demand for streaming, gaming and video content jumped through the roof. Otherwise what else would one be doing anyway! Because of these new technologies, many analysts think satellite television, like print media, is a sunset industry. But despite all the power of YouTube, Netflix, etc., the demand for satellite TV is still very high especially in Africa where it is even increasing as evidenced by the subscriber base of the continent’s leading video entertainment platform provider, DSTV.
Owned by the South Africa-based MULTICHOICE Group, DSTV launched in 1995. At the last check it had 19.5 million subscribers with a 5% growth year-on year. Depending on the country and the type of device and subscription, some pay more than $ 100 per month.
BusinessTech reports that the company reported “a ‘solid’ performance, despite global and country-specific macro-economic challenges, highlighting a 38% growth in core headline earnings, to R2.5 billion”. That is US$ 147 million at the current exchange rate of R17 to one dollar.
In a statement, Multichoice’s CEO, Calvo Mawela said: “We are pleased with our performance and the resilience we have demonstrated this year. Our healthy balance sheet positions us well to weather the Covid-19 impact going forward”. That is impressive and further illustrates the point I am making that the entertainment industry made significant gains during this pandemic.
The company has the following on its website: “We’re proud to say that we use the power of entertainment to enrich lives. We achieve this goal through showcasing compelling local and international stories, which bring people together around a shared passion.
“As Africa’s leading entertainment company, we create and secure the rights to phenomenal content from all over the world. This gets delivered through our Direct To Home (DTH), Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and online video entertainment services.”
Based on the experience with the short-term wonder company, GTV, which collapsed spectacularly in the face of the world financial crisis in 2007/8 causing distress for their subscribers, it is heartening to know that DSTV is flourishing regardless of the pandemic. What the company has not taken into account, however, is the economic impact on most of its subscribers and the substantial content reduction provided in the last three months.
During a survey some fifteen, or so, years ago, Super Sport and Africa Magic were proved to be two of the strongest magnets that pulled people towards DSTV. That led to the introduction to Compact, separate from Premium. So those who went for unlimited sport channels paid more, and those who went for movies got less sport content and paid less.
For three months – between March and June 2020 – all sporting activities in almost every country in the world were suspended. With that disappeared the major football leagues for which DSTV subscribers pay so much. So did almost all other sporting events.
Reality shows have been suspended, understandably. Several SERIES like Tinsel, The Johnsons and Flat Mates were and still are being recycled to become old recipes into new sauces. Full length and feature films are also being repeated, apparently because actors, actresses and producers and other crew members are all staying home and socially distancing – so no new movies. If this was pay-per-view TV we know what we would have done to those channels because it was not out of choice but rather we just could not watch them. They simply became useless yet we were forced to pay for them.
DSTV subscriber numbers have increased by more than 900,000 largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The additional figure brings to 19.5 million the total number of subscribers even though we have been deprived of some of the services we still pay for by the service provider. Its profit has skyrocketed even though its content has reduced.
I know there are TV licencing rights involved, but while the major football leagues were still off one would have expected negotiations with the Board of the German top flight football league so subscribers would be watching the Bundesliga which started some two weeks ago.
It is clearly a no-brainer that DSTV owes its subscribers some reimbursements of some sort. Our contractual agreement has clearly been breached because many programmes have not been given to us. While we consider this as a force majeure for which we are not blaming MultiChoice, I am of the strong conviction that the company could not have been paying for services that were not being delivered. So they cannot therefore be expected to pay for showing the football leagues, for example, even after the month of May when they should have ended. The season continues so the TV rights paid for the season still have currency.
However, we the DSTV subscribers have been compelled to pay even when the season was off, and we continue to pay for the extended season period. This is grossly unfair.
It would therefore not be too much if subscribers asked to be compensated with at least two months of free DSTV viewing to offset those months we paid for without the full – to some the most important – service throughout the last three to four months.
With the Spanish La Liga football league also back on and the English Premier League is back this week, it is hoped that other major sporting events will come back. July – September is the perfect time for DSTV or MultiChoice to show some fairness and offset at the very least one month subscription to everyone based on their existing contract or bouquet. This is surely a very reasonable request to make. And fingers crossed that reasonability and fairness will prevail and the company will do the needful. Otherwise I for one will start changing my taste however hard it takes, to leave my Explorer and get pay for stronger internet connectivity and use my Smart TV.
Over to you DSTV!
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