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Pay-TV struggles as Kenyans ditch decoders for digital platforms
Falling active subscriptions, new audience metrics and rising competition from streaming platforms deepen pressure on pay-TV operators as viewing habits shift.
Kenya’s pay television industry endured a difficult 2025 as falling active subscriptions and shifting viewer habits weighed on the market.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) show that in the first half of the year, most major pay TV operators recorded sharp declines in active customers. GoTV’s active subscriber base fell by 13.2 percent from 362,543 to 314,520 between March and June, while DStv lost 18.2 percent, dropping from 230,777 to 188,824 over the same period.
Zuku’s satellite and cable services also contracted, with cable subscriptions falling by nearly a fifth as households cut back on non-essential spending and increasingly turned to cheaper or free alternatives. Only StarTimes’ direct-to-home (DTH) service posted marginal growth.
DTH uses satellite dishes to beam channels directly into homes and offers more channels but requires paid subscriptions, while digital terrestrial television (DTT) relies on land-based antennas and transmitters and largely provides free-to-air or low-cost local channels.
DTT remains the most popular platform in Kenya, with 944,913 active customers as of September, largely due to its affordability compared with DTH (686,604) and cable (47,125).
Active subscribers
This year, the CA revised how it counts subscriptions, shifting from cumulative registered decoders to “active” subscribers—defined as accounts that generated revenue in the previous 90 days. The new methodology revealed that a large share of households own pay-TV decoders but are not paying for or watching the services.
GoTV, for instance, had about 2.8 million registered customers by March, but only 362,543 were active, meaning just 12.8 percent were paying subscribers. DStv had 230,777 active users, or 18.6 percent of its 1.24 million registered customers. For StarTimes, 36.2 percent of its 1.9 million customers were active.
There was some recovery in the quarter to September, when total active broadcasting subscriptions rose by 13.7 percent to 1.68 million. DStv and GoTV recorded notable rebounds of 43 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively, while StarTimes posted a modest 1.7 percent gain.
Wananchi Group-owned Zuku, which offers both cable and DTH services, continued to struggle. Its cable business slumped by 30.6 percent, while DTH subscriptions fell by 0.8 percent.
Online streaming
The difficulties mirror wider trends across Africa’s pay-TV market, where operators face intense competition from video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and Showmax.
Illegal online streaming has also eroded revenues, particularly for premium sports content on channels such as SuperSport. At the same time, social media platforms have captured younger audiences with short-form, on-demand video that fits fragmented viewing habits, leaving traditional linear television increasingly irrelevant, especially among urban consumers.
“A growing segment of Kenyans, particularly those aged 18–34, is shifting toward digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and WhatsApp for entertainment, news, and information,” the CA said in its Audience Measurement and Industry Trends Report released in May.
“The trend towards on-demand, user-driven content, especially among younger demographics, calls for investment in platforms offering time-shifted and personalised experiences.”
When French media group Canal+ completed its acquisition of MultiChoice in September, expectations rose of strategic changes. Canal+ Africa chief executive David Mignot told customers to expect new content as the two companies combine their catalogues.
“We will have the ability to use the strengths of the (MultiChoice and Canal+) … customers can expect all that is available at Canal+. We have the biggest library of European content, including a lot of American content … like 9,000 movies,” Mr Mignot said.
MultiChoice, Africa’s largest pay-TV operator and owner of DStv and GoTV, has since warned customers they could lose access to up to 12 channels from US media group Warner Bros. Discovery from January 2026 if contract renewal talks fail.
“The distribution agreement between MultiChoice and Warner Bros. Discovery is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025. While discussions between the parties continue, no agreement has been reached at this stage,” MultiChoice said in a notice to customers in early December.
“If this remains unchanged, a number of Warner Bros. Discovery channels may no longer be available on DStv from 1 January 2026.”
The affected channels include CNN International, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel and TLC, which form a core part of MultiChoice’s premium and family entertainment offering in Kenya.
The company is also set to lose four channels following the shutdown of Paramount Africa at the end of December, further thinning its content slate. BET Africa, MTV Base, CBS Reality and CBS Justice will be discontinued, while Nickelodeon, NickToons, Comedy Central and MTV will continue airing.
Analysts say the rise of internet-based, on-demand entertainment has made it harder for pay-TV operators to sustain high-priced packages, particularly among younger audiences.
