Last week, Multichoice announced that its subsidiary GOtv was reducing the prices of all its packages in addition to adding more sports content. The changes saw Gotv slash by 28% the prices of GOtv Value bouquet from KSh. 650 to Ksh. 470. The price of GOtv Lite bouquet was reduced to Kshs. Ksh. 840 per annum down from Kshs. 1800. The price of the GOtv decoder and GOtenna has also went down to Ksh. 2999 from the previous cost of Ksh. 3999.
In an interesting development, Multichoice has announced a 60% price reduction in the price of DSTV Explora from Kshs. 30,650 to Kshs. 12,500. The new price is inclusive of the decoder, cabling and installation costs. The DSTV explora was launched in 2013 and offers users a full HD experience with additional features such as personal video recoder (PVR functionality), video on demand capability as well as video rental services all within the same interface.
The PVR functionality allows the viewer to record shows into a 2 Terabyte hard drive and watch them later (one can record upto 220 hours of content). One also has the option to pause, play and rewind live TV giving the user more control over their viewing experience. The video on demand capability is offered through DSTV catch up service. DSTV Catch up allows you to watch the latest series for a given period of time as soon as they air on their main networks. The video rental service, is another addition that allows a viewer to watch content for a fee which is added to your monthly subscription. Explora is especially useful when watching the latest films after they open in theaters worldwide.
The moves by Multichoice are very interesting and could point to increasing competition in the content provision space. The entry of new streaming services such as Netflix as well as competition from other existing players like StarTimes are likely to have pushed the firm to make these changes. The opening up of the its wide array of sports content to GOtv subscribers will ,most likely intensify demand for the service while at the same time one up Kwese TV, which is set to enter the market later this month. The reduction in prices of Explora may attract new users onto the platform but at the same time, we cannot downplay the competition triple play and quad play users have had in the target market.
