Harsh economic times, coinciding with the election year in 2017, forced most households to cut back non-essential expenditure.
Decline is also partly attributed to availability of other digital platforms such as online streaming and use of digital terrestrial services
But as cable TV subscription dropped, the Economic Survey 2018 showed that subscription for the more affordable Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) services increased by 11 per cent from 3.9 million in 2016 to 4.3 million in 2017.
Cable television subscription in 2017 dropped for the first time in three years, partly hit by strong competition from rival digital platforms.
Subscription for cable TV fell 16.3 per cent from 95,493 in 2016 to 79,938 last year, data by the Economic Survey 2018 showed.
“The decline is partly attributed to availability of other digital platforms such as online streaming and use of digital terrestrial services that may not require monthly subscription payment,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said.
There are four providers of paid-for cable services in Kenya including; StarTimes, DStv, Zuku and GOtv.
Harsh economic times, coinciding with the election year in 2017, forced most households to cut back non-essential expenditure.
Firms like StarTimes Media and MultiChoice, which owns DStv and GOtv brands, made changes to their various packages to retain customers and appeal to more clients.
For instance, DStv reduced the monthly bouquet prices by between three and nine per cent in October 2017.
Improved packages
Still during the same month it added Spanish league La Liga on its Family Bouquet beside BBCLifestyle, Food Network, Cbeebies, Trace Mziki and Africa Magic Epic which were previously available on higher-priced bouquets.
MultiChoice also seduced its GOtv customers with a new subscription option GOtv Max in September 2017, offering more content by adding four new channels of local and international programming to its premium package.
As part of the changes the firm announced four additional football and entertainment channels where the improved package now features SuperSport Select 4 channel, which gives subscribers access to all La Liga matches on SuperSport Select 4, select live Premier League games and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contests.
The Chinese pay-TV firm StarTimes wasn’t left out by the frenzy and also expanded its service in June last year to reach out to five more counties -- Kitui, Garissa, Kapenguria, Embu, Trans-Nzoia and Laikipia -- as it sought to deepen its reach in rural Kenya.
The firm now boosts of a presence in 33 counties. It also for the first time secured rights to air the FIFA World Cup in April, giving it a fighting chance against MultiChoice’s SuperSport, which has for years exclusively aired the popular football tournament.
But as cable TV subscription dropped, the Economic Survey 2018 showed that subscription for the more affordable Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) services increased by 11 per cent from 3.9 million in 2016 to 4.3 million in 2017.
The upsurge in popularity of digital platforms such as online streaming coincided with a sharp rise in Internet subscription.
Internet subscriptions up
According to the Economic Survey 2018, the total wireless Internet subscription increased by 24.9 per cent to 33.2 million subscribers in 2017.
Similarly, total fixed wired Internet subscription increased by 59.2 per cent to 198,472 in 2017 from 124,637 in 2016 while fixed fibre optic subscription accounted for 50.2 per cent of the total fixed wired subscription in the year under review.
“This was partly attributed to the ongoing laying of fibre across the country which resulted in increased bandwidth capacity” the KNBS said.
The boom in Internet services helped grow the overall business telecommunication and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in 2018.
The KNBS data showed that employment by telecommunication operators increased marginally from 6,178 in 2016 to 6,907 in 2017, while Internet service providers increased by 583 employees to 9,031 in 2017.
The annual revenue earned by telecommunication operators increased by 12.2 per cent to Sh241 billion in 2017 from Sh214.8 billion in 2016.
The value of investment by the telecommunication operators and ISPs however decreased by 25.9 per cent and 31.8 per cent to Sh38.7 billion and Sh1.5 billion, respectively, in 2017.
