MultiChoice price reduction deepens pay-TV market

• The firm says the decoder will now retail at Sh2,199, down from Sh3,100 to stimulate demand for the gadget used to access channels.
• The price cut comes days after the firm lowered its monthly subscription fees to Sh599 from Sh720 in the race to capture the low-end of the market targeted by GOtv.
• The new entrant StarTimes has aggressively marketed its offerings targeting the mass market with subscriptions that start from Sh500 per month.
• MultiChoice launched the low-cost product in partnership with State-owned KBC last September to defend and grow market share from recharged rivals, making Kenya the third country in Africa after Zambia and Uganda to access the low-end MultiChoice product.
• At Sh599, Gotv is cheaper than the services that DStv offers from Sh800 to Sh7,000 and Wananchi’s charges of between Sh999 and Sh2,999.

Pay-TV operator MultiChoice has cut the retail price of its GOtv entry level decoder by 29 per cent to protect its market lead over Wananchi and new entrant StarTimes Media.

The firm says the decoder will now retail at Sh2,199, down from Sh3,100 to stimulate demand for the gadget used to access channels.

The price cut comes days after the firm lowered its monthly subscription fees to Sh599 from Sh720 in the race to capture the low-end of the market targeted by GOtv.

“With this kind of pricing, GOtv has perfectly positioned itself as a leader in the digital arena,” Felix Kyengo, GOtv’s general manager said Thursday in a statement.

The new entrant StarTimes has aggressively marketed its offerings targeting the mass market with subscriptions that start from Sh500 per month.

The Chinese firm has priced its decoders at Sh3,000, which is higher than GOtv’s, underlining the increased competition for the mass market.

MultiChoice launched the low-cost product in partnership with State-owned KBC last September to defend and grow market share from recharged rivals, making Kenya the third country in Africa after Zambia and Uganda to access the low-end MultiChoice product.

At Sh599, Gotv is cheaper than the services that DStv offers from Sh800 to Sh7,000 and Wananchi’s charges of between Sh999 and Sh2,999.

MultiChoice is using pricing as its arsenal to gain market share from its rivals that have threatened to shake its dominance in Kenya.

The big price cuts on the decoders have been enabled by the recent tax waiver on the devices which used to cost as much as Sh6,000.

Pay-TV firms have intensified their activities in recent months, betting on the lower prices to capture a larger market as the country migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting by the end of the year.

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StarTimes launched operations in Nairobi in July and has recently expanded to Kisumu and Mombasa.

MultiChoice has managed to lock in customers with its popular and exclusive English Premier League content. Wananchi runs the Zuku brand and has raised hundreds of millions of shillings to boost its reach and content.