MultiChoice slashes decoder price by 50% to ₦10,000, offers free upgrade to new DStv package

MultiChoice Nigeria has announced the reduction of its decoder price to ₦10,000 from ₦20,000. The 50% slash is part of the PayTV operator’s effort to regain customers amid the recent decline in subscribers. 

The South African-based company announced that it will offer customers a free upgrade to the new DStv package tier as soon as they have paid their current subscriptions in full from June 16 to July 31, 2025. This initiative is structured to keep active customers in a market occupied by Netflix and YouTube.

According to the DStv and GOtv provider, the initiative was also their response to the current economic impact on Nigerians, with a significant decrease in their purchasing power.

“By repositioning itself as a platform for daily value, DStv aims to encourage content discovery across a wider array of genres, including movies, drama, kids’ programming, and news,” the company stated.

Recall that in its latest financial results for the year ended March 31, 2025, MultiChoice Group reported a decline of 1.2 million in active subscribers to 14.5 million. 

Multichoice said the “We’ve Got You” offer, designed for current and returning subscribers, is intended to reward loyal customers and attract new ones by making premium content more accessible. The company mentioned the upgrade to the new tier is automatic for all active and returning subscribers who renew their subscriptions during the period stated.

“This means more channels, more shows, and more reasons to tune in every day,” the company stated.

While reacting to the development, MultiChoice Nigeria’s CEO, John Ugbe, said the move is the Pay TV operator’s initiative to encourage customers and ensure they get the value of their subscription.

“We want to ensure our customers feel appreciated and have access to the best entertainment every day. The ‘We Got You’ campaign is about making premium content more accessible and showing that DStv offers something for everyone, not just football fans,” he said.

Also Read: MultiChoice loses 1.2 million subscribers as revenue dips by 9% to $2.8 billion.

MultiChoice losing customers

Over the past two years, MultiChoice has lost 2.8 million subscribers. It also saw a $576.5 million (R10.2 billion) negative impact as a result of the depreciation of African currencies against the US dollar. The company attributed the downturn to a combination of macroeconomic pressures, rampant piracy, intense competition from global streaming platforms, and substantial investments in its streaming service, Showmax.

“Although reflecting an improvement on FY24 trends, this indicates ongoing broad-based pressure across the group’s entire customer base,” MultiChoice told investors in the financial statement.

“The past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporates, and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa due to challenging macroeconomic factors,” it said.

The impact of structural industry changes in video entertainment, such as the rise of piracy, streaming services, and social media, has materially affected its overall performance, MultiChoice revealed. 

According to the company, the Nigerian market accounted for 77% of the subscriber loss recorded across its Rest of Africa (RoA) operations between 2023 and 2025. 

It will, however, be noted that MultiChoice has, three-times, raised subscription fees over two years in the Nigerian market. The first was in April 2023, another in November 2023, and the latest increment was announced in April 2024 and took effect on May 1. 

Multichoice increased subscription prices across various packages, so the cost of the DStv Compact bouquet rose from ₦15,700 to ₦19,000. The company blamed several factors, including high inflation, power grid collapse, and fuel scarcity, for the subscriber loss in Nigeria.