Will a price hike in monthly subscription fees for DStv for 2013 push the most expensive DStv bouquet, DStv Premium, through the psychological consumer price-point barrier of over R600 per month in South Africa for the very first time?
The annual price increase for monthly subscriptions from the satellite pay-TV operator MultiChoice for its DStv service always comes into effect from April every year and is announced early in March.
Already MultiChoice announced its annual subscription fee increases for 2013 elsewhere in Africa for bouquets such as DStv Premium and DStv Compact which will increase by $2 each. The monthly fee for some DStv bouquets in Africa will remain unchanged in 2013.
DStv Premium currently has a monthly subscription fee of R590 in South Africa. Any increase would take it over R600 - what consumer psychologists call a "psychological price-point barrier".
DStv Compact, currently at R260 will likely remain under R300 if the monthly subscription is increased from April. DStv Lite currently at R99 per month, if there is any increase to this bouquet announced soon, will also cross a psychological price-point threshold of R100.
Subscription television is discresionary spending - consumers who feel they can afford it, can choose to have it or not. Not so with compulsory monthly expenses. And those expenses - and the consumer psychology behind it, has an influence on what a consumer believes they want to spend the money on they have left.
South African consumers are getting squeezed by the petrol price which is rising by 81c per litre from midnight, whilst other psychological consumer factors are also having a big impact on the South African consumer psyche and eventually discresionary spending patterns.
Besides the constantly rising fuel price and food prices, draconian etolling fees and stiff electricity price hikes of 8% per year from Eskom are looming which all weigh on consumers' wallets.
I've enquired from MultiChoice what the new monthly subscription tariff increases for DStv for 2013 would be from April, unless it's not increasing this year, and what the new monthly fees for the various bouquets like DStv Premium, DStv Compact and DStv Lite would be from 1 April.
"We will be releasing this information later in the week," says MultiChoice.
