by Thinus Ferreira
Pay-TV company MultiChoice late on Wednesday reported that 8% or 1.2 million of its linear DStv subscribers had cut the cord over the past financial year as it ended 31 March 2025 with a big loss it blames on "unprecedented headwinds".
The 1.2 million subscribers that MultiChoice, as Africa's largest pay-TV operator, lost in total, in a year, is more than the 1 million South African DStv Premium and DStv Compact subscribers which is all that remain on MultiChoice's most expensive premium tier.
Over its past two financial years MultiChoice has lost a whopping 2.8 million linear subscribers.
By 31 March 2025 MultiChoice, which is in the process of a corporate takeover by France's Canal+, had 14.5 million active subscribers across South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. A year ago it stood at 15.7 million.
In a statement, MultiChoice said, "The past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporates and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa due to challenging macroeconomic factors".
"Combined with the impact of structural industry changes in video entertainment, such as the rise of piracy, streaming services and social media, this has materially affected the overall performance of MultiChoice Group."
According to MultiChoice, subscribers are cutting the DStv cord because "economic hardship and affordability remain a challenge across the board".
"The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has meant that households are struggling to make ends meet and many had no choice but to give up their DStv subscription for the time being."
MultiChoice subscribers declined by 8% from 15.69 million to 14.51 million, while its 90-day active subs fell 11% to 18.59 million during the period.
"Linear subscribers were down 1.2 million or 8% year-on-year to 14.5 million active subscribers, with the loss evenly split between South Africa (0.6 million) and Rest of Africa (RoA) (0.6 million)," MultiChoice says.
MultiChoice had 7.5 million subscribers in South Africa, and 7 million in the RoA.
"Although reflecting an improvement on FY24 trends, this indicates ongoing broad-based pressure across the group's entire customer base."
According to MultiChoice's 90-days active subscriber metric, it lost 10% DStv premium (Premium and Compact) subscribers in South Africa, while DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa decreased by 6% and mass market decreased by 7%.
In South Africa, MultiChoice now has only 1 million DStv Premium and DStv Compact subscribers left, with 2.1 DStv Compact subscribers and 4.7 lower-tiered subscribers.
MultiChoice's average revenue per user (ARPU) in South Africa for the year until 31 March 2025 increased by 4% for its DStv premium segment (DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus packages), 2% for its mid-market segment (DStv Compact), and 10% higher ARPU for its mass market (DStv Family, DStv Access, DStv EasyView) tier.
Meanwhile extreme electricity blackouts in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi lead to customers cutting the cord.
Streaming customers-wise, MultiChoice saw a 44% jump in Showmax subscribers year-over-year after it relaunched "Showmax 2.0" in February 2024 with Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky in the United Kingdom.
This 44% Showmax subscriber growth is however below MultiChoice's original projections for its relaunched streamer, with MultiChoice saying the new Showmax "subscriber growth has lagged initial exponential growth targets".
DStv Stream subscribers is up 38% with revenues increasing 48%.
MultiChoice is also no longer technically insolvent.
"Importantly, the group returned to a positive equity position through a combination of cost savings, a stabilisation in currencies, and the accounting gain on the sale of 60% of the group’s shareholding in its insurance business (NMSIS) to Sanlam," MultiChoice says.
According to Calvo Mawela, "Our performance reflects both the challenges we've faced and the resilience of our teams".
"While macroeconomic pressures and currency volatility have weighed on our results, our disciplined execution, cost management and investment in new long-term growth opportunities position us well for the future."
MultiChoice Group's revenues declined by 9% year-on-year to R50.8 billion, primarily due to an 11% drop in subscription revenue.
After incorporating Showmax's trading losses and R5.2 billion in foreign currency revenue losses, and partially offset by the R3.7 billion in cost savings, MultiChoice's trading profit declined to R4.0 billion.
MultiChoice says it added 5 340 hours of local content in the year, bringing the total local content library to more than 91 470 hours. SuperSport broadcast 47 839 hours of live coverage (+7% YoY) and produced 1 029 live events.
It also renewed channel carriage agreements with Paramount for MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nicktoons, and Nickelodeon, as well as with ZEE.
Notably, its SuperSport Schools app saw 46% growth in registered users to reach 1.2 million, while the platform reached nearly 11 million unique viewers through the app and DStv channel 216 and delivered 50 000 hours of content.
MultiChoice says one of its three "clear priorities" is to"Continue to work with Canal+ towards a successful close of their mandatory offer in order to unlock significant long-term benefits for the combined entities and their respective stakeholders".
This deal is still subject to Competition Tribunal approval and this takeover is expected to close in October 2025.