MultiChoice Angola adds Viacom's Nickelodeon kids channel in Portuguese to DStv.

MultiChoice Angola has added Viacom's Nickelodeon kids channel in Portuguese to DStv, further extending Nickelodeon's presence across the African continent.

Nickelodeon in Portuguese will be available on the DStv Bué and DStv Mega packages in Angola.

MultiChoice Angola as a satellite pay-TV operator, is run as a franchise division in that country by Jembas Assistência Tecnica.

Nickelodeon in Portuguese was added on 4 March in Angola on DStv channel 573, with Viacom Africa making the announcement of the channel addition on 8 March.

"Extending our brand offering in a more engaging and accessible way across Africa is key to our growth strategy," says Alex Okosi, the executive vice president and managing director of Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) & BET International.

"Our much-loved Nickelodeon brand in Portuguese will enable a deeper connection for kids and families in Angola."

Eduardo Continentino, MultiChoice Angola general manager, says "this channel is a direct representation of how DStv is committed to investing in content".

"By customising an offer to better resonate and align with the needs of Angolan children and youth audiences, DStv shows that customers are indeed at the heart of all decisions made. We believe that this channel will add value to our existing channels grid."

DStv wants to raise subscription fees by 20% in Angola - but needs regulatory approval which it so far has been denied.

MultiChoice wants to raise DStv's monthly subscription fees by up to 20% in Angola, but the satellite pay-TV operator, a franchise division in that country of and run by Jembas Assistência Tecnica, needs regulatory approval before it would be allowed to do so.

According to Expansão's Friday edition, the operator asked the Angolan Institute of Communications (Inacom), for approval to increase prices, but so far Inacom has rejected the application, and negotiations between DStv and Inacom is now taking place.

MultiChoice Angola CEO Eduardo Continentino wants a DStv price hike of 20%. Price increases without the approval of Inacom is however a violation of Angola's Law on Electronic Communications and Information Society Services (LCE).

Inacom's Leonel Augusto told Expansão that negotiations are currently taking place between the regulator and the pay-TV operators of DStv, ZAP and TV Cabo regarding possible price increases.

DStv increases of 20% in Angola would mean that the DStv Easy package would go from AKz 1,650 to AKz 1,980, with DStv Grande that would increase from AKz 4,180 to AKz 5,000.

In February 2018 the pay-TV operator ZAP increased prices before and without seeking regulatory approval, which led to a hefty fine being imposed on ZAP.

DStv Angola is the first African country to announce that MultiChoice will be hiking monthly subscription fees from early 2018.

Angola is the first African country where MultiChoice is announcing a DStv subscription price hike for 2018 with DStv subscribers in the West African country who will be paying more for their monthly DStv subscriptions from sometime in the first quarter of 2018.

DStv Angola didn't yet announce the specific monthly price increases for the various DStv packages but is the first country to signal just before Christmas that DStv fees will be increasing in the new year.

MultiChoice Africa says the price hike in "inevitable" with Eduardo Continentino, MultiChoice Angola CEO saying the DStv subscription fee increase is mainly due to "exchange losses and inflation" due to the weakened kwanza currency.

Angola's Valor Economico is reporting that DStv Angola is doing better after 2016 that Eduardo Continentino is describing as "a very bad year". More than 60% of DStv Angola's subscribers are based in the country's capital, Luanda, considered one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.

In 2017 MultiChoice Africa decreased DStv subscription fees in several African countries since August including Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana saying "we recognise that our customers are living in tough economic times", although MultiChoice South Africa increased the DStv monthly subscription fees for South Africans in 2017 who saw no similar decrease.