Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
DStv takes war for clients to rivals with new mobile decoder
Wananchi watching the royal wedding earlier this year: DStv’s Drifta decoder is compatible with personal computers and laptops. File
The battle for control of Kenya’s Pay- TV market is set to intensify as DStv unveils a mobile decoder Wednesday morning, a strategy that will move its products from the traditional TV set to laptops, iPads and smart phones.
The firm is looking at capturing the increasingly mobile middle class subscribers as it races to grow and defend its market share from the increasingly aggressive rival—Wananchi Group.
The firm has been targeting mobile subscribers through selected mobile phones, but smaller screens and high data charges from the telephony operators have reduced its appeal. Now, it is seeking to free itself from mobile phone operators with the new offering dubbed DStv Drifta and increasing access to its channels with its focus being the new media.
“It will allow consumers to receive our programmes on their cell phones, iPads, iPod touch or smartphones,” said a source at the firm familiar with the service. “Drifta is also compatible with personal computers and laptops including notebooks and it can be connected through USB or Wi-Fi,” said the source without giving details.
Subscribers will be required to pay Sh9,999 for the decoder and it is expected that the firm will price the product at lower rates in line with its operation in South Africa. Consumers pay R39 (Sh506) per month to access the mobile service compared to between R199 and R499 (Sh2,567 and Sh6,437) for the TV connection.
This signals that DStv will bet on lower pricing to gain market share on this front, a model that its rival Wananchi is mulling to shake its dominance of Kenya’s pay TV market. The new entrants — Smart TV, My TV, and Star TV — join Wananchi Group, which runs cable Zuku TV, in the fight to dislodge DStv which has had little competition over the last 15 years , forcing it to innovate in a bid to stay ahead of its competition.
The planned entry of the mobile telephony firms into the TV market is set to complicate the market outlook for the pay TV firms, and DStv seems to be racing ahead of the firms in capturing mobile TV subscribers. Globally, mobile TV is seen as a new growth area for both broadcasters and mobile firms. The new offering comes at a time when Wananchi Group is preparing to take on DStv in the Kenyan market with its strategy hinged on lower pricing and content, especially sports channels. Last week the firm moved its platform to satellite from cable, which had limited reach making it difficult to match DStv in pricing.
