Last week, Multichoice Nigeria, the operator of DStv Nigeria, announced that it was halving the price of its DStv decoder. This decision certainly did not come out of a vacuum. It came just a week after the company reported losing 1.4 million subscribers in Nigeria in the last two years.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that it’s a stunning reversal for a company that once held a near-monopoly on premium television content in Nigeria.
EDITOR’S PICKS
For years, DStv and its budget alternative GOtv dominated the pay-TV market, riding high on exclusive rights to Premier League football and other live sports. But as streaming services gain popularity, data becomes more affordable, and digital piracy flourishes, DStv’s grip on Nigerian households appears to be slipping.
Subscribers Switch Off DStv and Other TV Providers
According to audited results released by Multichoice Group, Nigeria accounted for a staggering 77% of the total 1.8 million subscriber losses in its “Rest of Africa” operations between March 2023 and March 2025. In practical terms, that means DStv Nigeria’s subscriber base shrank more than any other market.
The company blamed this decline on external economic conditions, including crippling inflation, erratic power supply, and chronic fuel shortages that have made it harder for Nigerians to justify premium TV spending. But economic hardship only tells part of the story.
Over the past two years, MultiChoice Nigeria raised subscription prices three times, frustrating customers who were already juggling mounting household expenses. That pricing strategy has now done a full U-turn: a 50% decoder price slash, a free package upgrade promo, and a renewed marketing effort under its “We Got You” campaign to retain the customers it still has.
Yet, many observers believe these measures may be too little, too late.
The Streaming Revolution
Cable TV’s biggest threat isn’t inflation or fuel scarcity—it’s the internet.
In recent years, Nigerians have increasingly turned to streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, and even Showmax, ironically, a Multichoice product. With more affordable unlimited data plans from ISPs and mobile operators, even middle- and low-income earners are cutting the cord and going digital.
On YouTube, for instance, users can now watch extended football highlights, post-match analyses, and even full matches uploaded by unofficial channels. Pirated apps like IPTV offer live access to sports and premium channels for a fraction of DStv’s prices or for free.
“I used to pay for DStv Premium just because of football,” said Chuka Eze, a Lagos-based football fan. “But now I watch games on IPTV or follow live commentary on Twitter and YouTube. Why should I still pay ₦29,500 a month?”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, one Olamide wrote, “DSTV is basically poverty tax now. Useless channels, high bills.”
It also does not help that DStv’s entertainment channels have a reputation for broadcasting old content.
This month, an X user, who posts via @CatsKoMeJaguar, criticised DSTV for broadcasting movies from 1988 and 2006.
“In 2025, DStv is showing Coming to America and Apolcalyto,” he wrote.
“This movie on Africa magic, DSTV has repeated it like 50 times this year. But they complain of low subscription lol,” Babatunde Blunt, another X user, wrote.
With streaming services, people have the choice to choose what they are interested in watching, whether old, new, or trending content, on their phones, tablets, or smart TVs.
DStv’s Identity Crisis
This shift is not unique to Nigeria. Around the world, cable TV providers are grappling with dwindling audiences, but Nigeria’s digital migration has been accelerated by the sheer pace of economic survivalism. When forced to choose between electricity bills and entertainment, most consumers will cut the latter.
“Poor man go suppose chop first before he subscribe for DSTV,” Morris Monye wrote on X in pidgin English, alluding to crippling inflation, one of the reasons Multichoice cited for its loss of more than one million subscribers in two years.
Multichoice’s CEO, John Ugbe, says the company is repositioning itself as a “daily value” platform, pushing content beyond football—movies, kids shows, news, drama. But the challenge is immense: streaming platforms offer the same content on demand, without the rigid programming schedules or decoder hassles.
Even the once-unbeatable SuperSport monopoly is losing its shine. The days when DStv was the only way to watch the UEFA Champions League or World Cup are over.
For example, SportyTV, a TV network operated by betting company SportyBet, has been broadcasting most of the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup matches to Nigerians for free through YouTube, negating the need for football lovers to pay a premium to DStv.
In an age of YouTube streaming, TikTok recaps, illegal streams, and 5G internet, DStv’s traditional broadcast model is surely showing its age.
FURTHER READING
The Road Ahead for DStv and other Cable TV Providers
Whether DStv and other cable TV providers can reinvent itself remains to be seen. The decoder price cut and promo offers show it is not giving up the fight. But with subscriber loyalty at an all-time low and competition just a click away, cable TV providers, including StarTimes, in Nigeria may be facing a sunset moment.
For a new generation of Nigerian viewers, the future of television is mobile, flexible, and online. And unless DStv and its peers evolve quickly, they may end up as relics of a bygone media era, according to observers.
A social media user, Oke Umurhohwo, advised Multichoice to be innovative and partner with an ISP to provide unlimited Internet to subscribers to keep itself competitive in an evolving market.
He wrote, “If there is a DSTV staff that can take it to management, here is my suggestion to avoid being lost in 2025:
1. Partner with a Wi-Fi company/ISP. Convert all your dish to not just cable but internet receivers.
2. Bundle your cable package with an unlimited home plan e.g. 30k gives you unlimited internet and premium DSTV. This is the only way out for them right now.”
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
Click here to watch the video of the week below:
