Analysts are predicting that Multichoice’s upcoming standalone streaming service will be priced the same as Netflix.
Africa Analysis media analyst, Nozi Dikgale says that Multichoice would be able to offer DStv Now at a more affordable price than its satelitte packages.
“MultiChoice subsidizes the decoder, therefore introducing an online service would lower th ecost of acquiring a new subscriber, introduce a marginal saving on MultiChoice Group income statement, and lower the cost of the new subscriber,” Dikgale was quoted as saying.
Dikgale also said that he expects the new service to be cheaper than its sister Showmax or perhaps even be the same price. Currently, Showmax charges KES 750 for a monthly subscription. In Kenya, Netflix started charging Kenyans in shillings which has made the plans slightly cheaper.
William Bird, Media Monitoring Africa director said that the price of a standalone DStv Now service could be in line with a Netlix subscription. “My sense is that they are likely to offer someting that will compete with Netflix and also offer their sports packages possibly as an add-on,” he said. That seems like what Showmax currently offers, where they started offering live sports streaming as part of the package.
Last year, it was reported that MultiChoice was planning to launch DStv Now as a standalone service this year. They are expected to launch it by March this year. Currently, they allows its subscribers who have a DStv account to stream content through DStv Now.
Multichoice has been feeling the heat of Netflix, especially in markets like South Africa. From their interim results ending 30th September 2019, they had lost 3% of their Premium subscribers.
