MultiChoice Malawi hikes DStv and GOtv subscription prices by up to over 22% from April 2025

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice Malawi is hiking prices by up to over 22% for DStv and GOtv in the Southeast African country from April 2025.

In a notice MultiChoice Malawi sent to DStv and GOtv subscribers, the satellite pay-TV service says it will increase prices from April.

MultiChoice Malawi is increasing the monthly DStv Premium subscription fee from April by 20% from K115,000 to K138,000, while DStv Compact Plus is increased by 18.4% from K76,000 to K90,000. 

DStv Compact will increase 20.2% from K49,500 to K59,500 from April.

The price of DStv Kufewa - the cheapest DStv package in Malawi - will increase 20% from K11,500 to K13,800.

MultiChoice Malawi is increasing GOtv Supa+ by 20.2% from K49,500 to K59,500.

MultiChoice Malawi is hiking its GOtv Supa package by 19.7% from K35,500 to K42,500, while GOtv Lite is increased by 22.2% from K4,500 to K5,500.

MultiChoice Nigeria similarly hiked prices for DStv and GOtv in Nigeria from March by an astounding 22% as well.

MultiChoice to switch DStv Malawi back on by Friday 8 September after price hike tiff with country's regulator.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice will resume its DStv service in Malawi on Friday according to the country's communications regulator after a stand-off over a price hike which saw the pan-African pay-TV operator take the decision to remove its service from Malawi a month ago in a first-ever country exit.

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) in a new statement on the tariff dispute between the regulator and MultiChoice Africa says that DStv Malawi services will now resume on Friday 8 September.

"On 4 September the parties met in Lilongwe and reached an agreement and understanding which will see the resolution of the matter and resumption of DStv services in Malawi by Friday 8 September 2023."

Daud Suleman, MACRA director-general, says the regulator "assures the public that this matter will be resolved in a manner that balances the interests of either party and within the boundaries of the applicable laws".

Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, MultiChoice group executive for corporate affairs and stakeholder relations, in response to a media query and asked about confirmation about the resumption of service and whether DStv Malawi will resume its service at the increased price, said that "a comprehensive media statement will be issued once there is finality on the matter".

The tiff started when MultiChoice announced another price hike for DStv in Malawi from August without first getting approval from the regulator, and after MultiChoice Malawi was already fined for an earlier price hike it didn't first get approval for.

MultiChoice which said it is not MultiChoice Malawi but MultiChoice Africa doing price increases for various African countries, announced that it would be shutting down DStv and exiting its service from the country after Malawi's High Court granted the regulator an injunction when it and the pay-TV operator went to court over the matter.

It was the first time MultiChoice - under pressure from global video streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and others gobbling up subscribers across Africa - decided to shut down and exit its traditional pay-TV service in an African country after being denied a price increase.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice Malawi in price hike court fight as country's regulator says DStv tariff increases are not allowed and that 'current, unchanged' fees will apply.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice shuts down DStv in Malawi after price hike is denied.

ALSO READ: Malawi regulator to exiting MultiChoice: Pay R337 000 and take your electronic junk.

MultiChoice shuts down DStv in Malawi after price hike is denied.

by Thinus Ferreira

Pulling the trigger in a Mexican standoff, MultiChoice is shutting down its DStv service in Malawi effectively immediately and leaving subscribers without access to news and entertainment – the first time the pan-African pay-TV operator has ever done so – after Malawi's communications regulator blocked it from hiking prices.

DStv Malawi is telling subscribers to stop payments for DStv and that all existing subscribers in the country will be cut off within 30 days or less, with no new DStv subscriptions or reconnections that will be done from today.

In January this year, Malawi's regulator, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), fined MultiChoice Malawi for its DStv price hike it implemented in July 2022 and also ordered it to refund all DStv subscribers for adjusting its DStv tariffs without approval from the regulator.

Malawi's latest price increase for 2023 was set to come into effect from August as part of the latest in a string of DStv price hikes done by MultiChoice Africa and which has seen DStv price increased this year in various countries across the continent ranging from South Africa to Ghana, from Nigeria to Uganda, as well as Zambia and Tanzania.

In August, MultiChoice hiked DStv fees by up to another 6% in Kenya for a second time this year after a 10% increase a few months earlier in April and in Ghana MultiChoice also increased DStv fees by up to another 18% in a second increase this year after raising prices by up to 19% in February in the West-African nation.

MultiChoice Africa blames weakening African currencies as well as runaway inflation rates for the large increases, as well as the double yearly hikes in Ghana and Kenya.

After MultiChoice Malawi announced yet another price hike in the Southeast African country which was set to come into effect from August 2023, the country's communications regulator, Malawi's regulator ordered MultiChoice not to implement any price increases from August.

MultiChoice Malawi then went to court on 31 July and applied for an emergency injunction against the regulator's order, which was granted by the country's High Court and which remained in effect until yesterday, 8 August.

MultiChoice Malawi said that it had no choice but to increase DStv fees, since it's not MultiChoice Malawi but MultiChoice Africa Holdings (MAH) based in Dubai which is overall deciding on the DStv price increases across the continent which are then implemented by various countries' localised MultiChoice executive management. 

After MultiChoice Malawi's injunction was granted, Daud Suleman, MACRA director-general, in a statement, said that once it lapsed the regulator will still not allow MultiChoice Malawi to charge higher DStv fees.

Daud Suleman said that "the current, unchanged and approved DStv tariffs will apply from 8 August 2023 unless otherwise directed by the court", with the regulator that remained adamant that MultiChoice was not going to be allowed to charge its subscribers more from August.

Now MultiChoice has decided to shut DStv down in Malawi since it's not allowed to increase pay-TV fees.

MultiChoice Africa Holdings confirmed to TVwithThinus that MultiChoice is withdrawing "services from Malawi with immediate effect. This follows the injunction issued by the High Court in Lilongwe in a matter between MultiChoice Malawi and MACRA prohibiting an adjustment to the DStv tariffs".

According to Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, MultiChoice Africa group executive for corporate affairs, "MultiChoice Malawi does not offer the DStv service to the public and therefore cannot set or adjust tariffs for this service, a point repeatedly made to MACRA".

"As a result, the order handed down to MCM is incapable of being implemented by them but carries with it grave consequences for the directors and management of MultiChoice Malawi, including imprisonment."

"MultiChoice Holdings Africa, given the impact on its supplier MultiChoice Malawi and an increasingly adverse regulatory environment is therefore left with no option but to terminate the DStv service indefinitely."

DStv subscribers in Malawi are "requested to halt payment for the DStv service," the pay-TV operator says.

"Customers who have already paid their new subscription for the DStv service will have those services honoured until the current 30 day viewing cycle ends on or before 10 September 2023. From Wednesday 9 August 2023 no new subscriptions or reconnections will be accepted."

"MultiChoice Africa Holdings would like to thank customers for their support over many years. MAH would also like to thank MultiChoice Malawi for their professional conduct in supplying services to MAH over as many years."

MultiChoice Africa Holdings shutting down DStv in Malawi breaks a promise it made 14 years ago in 2009 when the pay-TV operator said its DStv service would not exit the country. 

After another pay-TV operator in the country shut down, MultiChoice told DStv subscribers in Malawi that it has "a track record that shows that we are going to be there until time in memorial" and that "MultiChoice has been in operation for over decades and operates within 48 countries in Africa so it is an assurance that we are stable economically".

ALSO READ: MultiChoice Malawi in price hike court fight as country's regulator says DStv tariff increases are not allowed and that 'current, unchanged' fees will apply.

MultiChoice Malawi in price hike court fight as country's regulator says DStv tariff increases are not allowed and that 'current, unchanged' fees will apply.

by Thinus Ferreira

Growing confusion reigns in Malawi over DStv and GOtv prices after MultiChoice Malawi went to court to get emergency injunction against the country's communications regulator after the regulator ordered MultiChoice not to implement it's latest price hikes.

MultiChoice Malawi's latest price hike fight comes as the latest tiff following an ongoing series of drastic MultiChoice price increases across sub-Saharan Africa in various countries ranging from Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, from July in Tanzania and for a shocking second time in Kenya within months.

Since August MultiChoice suddenly hiked DStv prices for a second time within a year in Ghana.

When MultiChoice Malawi announced yet another price hike in the country which was set to come into effect from August 2023, the country's communications regulator, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) ordered MultiChoice not to implement any price increases from August.

MultiChoice Malawi then applied for an emergency injunction against the MACRA order, with the country's High Court which issued the injunction on 31 July, for a period until 8 August. 

What happens from today in Malawi with MultiChoice Malawi pricing is unknown - does MultiChoice Malawi now go ahead with price increases?

Daud Suleman, MACRA director-general, in a statement, says "the current, unchanged and approved DStv tariffs will apply from 8 August 2023 unless otherwise directed by the court" - which means that MultiChoice isn't allowed to charge its subscribers more since this month.

"On 4 August 2023, MACRA was served with yet another order from the High Court extending the temporary stay of injunction to Monday 7 August 2023."

"The extension was made following an application by MultiChoice Malawi to the court, in which MACRA understands, MultiChoice Malawi argued that its principal, MultiChoice Africa Holdings is unable to revert to the old DStv tariffs, claiming that reversing the tariffs would cause damage to MultiChoice Africa Holdings' business and operations in Malawi and several other countries."

MultiChoice Mawali in a press statement says it is "puzzled" by MACRA's order, since MultiChoice Malawi doesn't implement DStv price hikes but MultiChoice Africa Holdings.

"MultiChoice Malawi is puzzled by MACRA's conduct as MACRA is aware that MultiChoice Malawi does not offer the DStv service to the public and therefore does not set or adjust the tariffs for DStv."

"MultiChoice Malawi is also not the agent for MultiChoice Africa (MAH), the provider of the DStv service who had already effected the price increase on their systems."

"MultiChoice Malawi has applied and received approval from MACRA for adjustments of the GOtv tariff. This is so because MultiChoice Malawi provides the GOtv service to the public and sets the tariff for that service."

MultiChoice Malawi wants to increase DStv prices in the country as follows: DStv Premium from K67,000 to K 79,000, DStv Compact Plus from K43,000 to K51,000, DStv Compact from K27,500 to K33,000, DStv Family from 16,400 to 19,500, DStv Access from K10,200 to K12,500 and DStv Kufewa from K6,850 to K7,500.

First-ever Malawi Film Festival to support its filmmakers who are 'not considered important' as country's first TV series is prepped for a January 2023 debut on OneZed.

by Thinus Ferreira

Malawi will be holding its first-ever film festival, with The Film Association of Malawi (FAMA) organising the inaugural Malawi Film Festival on 25 and 26 November in Lilongwe.

It comes as Malawi's first-ever, locally-produced TV series is set to make its debut in January 2023 on M-Net's OneZed TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv.

The Malawi Film Festival has a budget of K68 million (R1.14 million) for the southeastern African country's first film festival.

FAMA is partnering with Malawi's National Planning Commission (NPC), MultiChoice Malawi, as well as the country's government departments of tourism, wildlife and culture, to hold the 2-day film showcase at the Golden Peacock Hotel in Malawi's capital.

The Malawi Film Festival's aim is to try and improve the quality and scope of locally-produced TV and film content in Malawi, and to showcase Malawi's culture and stories on screen. 

The theme of the first Malawi Film Festival is "Filmmaking for social economic growth and culture preservation".

Besides the showing of short films, the Malawi Film Festival will include a series of training workshops, a short film competition and two "movie nights".

Gift Sukez, FAMA president, says the plan is to turn the Malawi Film Festival into an annual occurrence, as something to help, support and to promote the country's struggling film industry and filmmakers who "are not considered important, are not motivated enough, and end up quitting the industry".

He says Malawi's film industry has the potential to create one million job opportunities, but that much more support is needed. "We are looking forward to more support from the general public as we revolutionise our film industry".

Zena Makunje, MultiChoice Malawi corporate affairs manager, says the pan-African pay-TV operator wants to help promote the country's filmmakers to showcase their short films.

Malawi's first-ever TV series is set to make its debut on M-Net's OneZed TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv platforms in the country in January 2023.

 

Emma Gichonge, MultiChoice Malawi managing director, says "We are committed to ensuring Malawian stories are told and it brings me great joy to have observed such a positively overwhelming response to the call for proposals for the first Malawian comedy or drama series that has been commissioned for the OneZed channel".

MultiChoice Malawi promises support to film and TV producers in Malawi as pay-TV operator looks at 'localising the MultiChoice brand' in the small East-African country.

MultiChoice Malawi told local filmmakers the pay-TV operator will support them to get their TV and film content broadcast on M-Net's Zambezi Magic (DStv 160) channel and is looking at "localising the MultiChoice brand" in the small East-African country.

Gus Banda, MultiChoice Malawi general manager, told the media at the MultiChoice Malawi year-end showcase event for press held at the Bingu International Convention Center in Lilongwe, Malawi, that MultiChoice Malawi running DStv Malawi and GOtv Malawi is committed to investing in Malawi's fledging film and TV industry.

 "The future African storytellers have benefited from the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) which was launched in May this year and the year ahead looks promising as we attempt to localise the MultiChoice brand, encouraging and supporting the local filmmakers to get their content on Zambezi Magic amongst other local investment highlights," said Gus Banda.

"We are committed to showcasing the best African content across the continent. The digital age means we are in a position to take African stories to the world and create a global market for what we do."

Chimwemwe Nyirenda, MultiChoice Malawi marketing manager said DStv subscribers in 2019 can look forward to the launch of a new DStv decoder, the Explora 3, the African Cup of Nations 2019 (Afcon) on SuperSport, and the Netball World Cup in which the Malawi Queens will be taking part.