Pay DTT Gains, Satellite TV Stalls in Sub-Saharan Africa

LONDON: DTT, and notably pay DTT, made large gains in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015, according to the latest figures from Digital TV Research.

The number of pay satellite TV subscribers, however, climbed by a relatively low 7.4 percent in 2015. This was partly due to greater platform choice created by DTT and partly due to economic hardships in some countries.

DStv had 2.24 million subscribers outside South Africa by September 2015, down from 2.56 million six months earlier and down from 2.36 million a year earlier. Digital TV Research estimates that this total fell to 2.16 million by end-2015, with 2016 also expected to be tough.

Simon Murray, author of the fifth edition of the Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa Forecasts report, said: “DStv’s problems stem mostly from its rights to exclusive premium content, especially sports. Currency devaluation in most sub-Saharan countries hit DStv hard. Exclusive content rights for premium content such as English Premier League soccer are usually paid for in U.S. dollars. DStv has been compelled to increase its local currency subscription fees to cover the shortfall due to devaluation. As a result, DStv appears more expensive to locals. To try and attract new subs, DStv has substantially reduced its decoder prices.”

There is, however, an upside: nearly two-thirds of TV homes (36.2 million) took digital signals by end-2015, up from 18.7 percent (7.9 million) in 2010. Complete digital transition was achieved in Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda by end-2015. This count will increase from six countries at end-2015 to 11 by end-2016. Digital TV penetration will reach 99.9 percent in 35 forecast countries by 2021 (74.7 million homes).

Around two-thirds (50.95 million) of TV households will take DTT (pay and free-to-air combined) as their primary TV signal in 2021, up from just 1.4 percent (590,000) at end-2010. By 2021, 14.85 million will be primary pay DTT and 36.10 million free-to-air DTT.

DTT will take on satellite as the top pay-TV platform by 2021. Satellite TV will only grow from 19.3 percent of TV households in 2015 to 21.2 percent by 2021, whereas pay DTT will surge from 10.2 percent to 19.9 percent over the same period.

Of the 16.91 million pay-TV subscribers at end-2015, 10.66 million were pay satellite TV and 5.64 million were pay DTT. The pay total will more than double to 33.23 million by 2021, with satellite TV contributing 15.88 million and pay DTT another 14.85 million.