This is an insult to DStv subscribers

DStv subscribers

I once wanted to buy a dress for my wife. I asked for the price. He said Shs 5,000. “Discount?. He insulted me – the same way Multichoice insulted DStv subscribers in their press statement released yesterday.

The actual price of a dress marked at Shs 5000 at any jua kali stall mtaani is normally somewhere around Kshs 3,000. When a buyer asks for discount, the expectation is that the seller would usually and stepwise slash the price by Kshs 500 as the buyer starts bargaining from Kshs 2000 upwards. If the seller is lucky, he will sell the dress for Kshs 4,000 or Kshs 3,500. If the buyer ends up buying the dress at Kshs 3,000, he will feel very very lucky. However, if the buyer was told that the only amount that can be slashed from the marked price is Kshs 50, he will feel extremely insulted.

I can’t trace the history but the time I was a DStv subscriber I used to pay slightly below Kshs 7,000 on the Premium package. When life challenges made such a package out of reach, I dropped to the Compact package that went for slightly below Kshs 3,000. In those days, the competition pricing by Star Times and Zuku were not way below the DStv pricing.

Jump years and months into the future and land to August 2017 and you get DStv prices way up in the skies. By this month, the DStv Premium package had skyrocketed to Kshs 8,180, the Compact Plus to Kshs 5,425, Compact to Kshs 3,550 and the Access package that used to be Kshs 880 jumped to Kshs 1050. Trust me, if I were one of the DStv subscribers in August 2017, I could have changed providers without blinking an eye. That’s not all.

Today, a Zuku subscriber is not only paying Kshs 4,700 to access premium Zuku TV package, but is paying that amount to also access unlimited high speed fibre Internet. Meaning a Zuku monthly Internet subscriber is getting Zuku premium TV for free, whereas a DStv customer is paying almost double that amount for Premium TV only. Remember, with free Internet, you can always stream the English Premier League free of charge, yet is the English Premier League that makes DStv charge almost double the pricing of Zuku Unlimited Fibre Internet.

It seems DStv realized that their packages were priced way beyond competition, and decided to slash their prices by HUGE margins. For example, the DStv package that used to go for Kshs 8,180 has been slashed by more than Shs 200 to Kshs 7,900. This slash is so huge that DStv sent a press statement to newsrooms reading, “Great news for consumers as MultiChoice Kenya slashes DStv subscription prices”. “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better for Kenyan consumers – it did!”, the statement exclaims in the introduction. To make the offer more salivating, Multichoice threw in some percentages in their price reductions as follows, “Price decrease on DStv Access by 9.52%, DStv Compact by 9.86%, Compact Plus by 4.15% and DStv Premium by 3.42%”.

Let us examine that huge 9.52% DStv subscribers on Access will now be enjoying. Initially, Access subscribers were paying Kshs 1050 per month to enjoy their television sets. After the reduction, the same subscribers will now by paying Kshs 950 per month ONLY, enabling them to save a whooping Kshs 100 each month.

How is that not an insult?

More so, I have been told that the current DStv prices of Kshs 7,900 for Premium, Kshs 5,200 for Compact Plus, Kshs 3,200 for Compact and Kshs 950 for Access are not any different from the prices the same packages used to go for before DStv increased prices a few months ago.

Double insults, right?

_ _ _ _  _

For those of you DStv subscribers who didn’t feel insulted, here is the rest of the statement:

MultiChoice is devoted to ensure that DStv customers get the best international and local channels at affordable prices. True to our commitment to put our customers at the heart of everything we do, today MULTICHOICE KENYA has announced a huge decrease on DStv subscription prices, effective on 01 September 2017.

As a customer-centric business, we are constantly looking for new ways to deliver more value to our customers. As such, we recently made the below recent moves moves aimed at achieving this namely:-

 

  • Providing La Liga games to our DStv Family package as well as added great lifestyle and kiddies programming – this makes DStv Family a fantastic value option.
  • SuperSport recently secured the rights to broadcast WWE programming live for the first time ever across sub-Saharan Africa.
  • DStv aired the Floyd Mayweather Jnr versus Conor McGregor fight live on the 27th of August over and above the great coverage offered on international Football leagues.

According to the MultiChoice Kenya Managing Director, Eric Odipo, MultiChoice Kenya recognises customers are living in tough economic times and the business is ever-cognisant of their need to access quality content.

“We want to reward them for their ongoing loyalty and support by providing them with the best local and international entertainment. We will do our bit by adjusting the price of their DStv packages to make them more affordable while adding more value.”

“The majority of our input costs are in US dollars and we hope we won’t experience any further currency devaluations or other unexpected increases in costs for the remainder of the year. We will continue to review pricing from time to time, taking into account the economic conditions of our operations.” He concluded.

The new pricing is as follows:

Package Current Price New Price % drop
Premium KES 8 180 KES 7 900 3.42%
Compact Plus KES  5 425 KES 5 200 4.15%
Compact KES 3 550 KES 3 200 9.86%
Access KES 1 050 KES 950.00 9.52%

Over the last two years, MultiChoice has stuck to our customer promise by providing best entertainment – combining both quality and variety – at a reduced rate to ensure access to great family entertainment.

  • In February 2016, we brought two of the world’s best football leagues, the English Premier League (EPL) and La Liga to DStv Compact customers. Plus, we added seven entertainment channels and opened up Box Office and DStv Catch Up.
  • In April 2016, we introduced a “no price increase” to provide relief to our customers in the current tough economic conditions.
  • Then in October 2016, we reduced our prices in some countries and added another six great entertainment channels to the Compact Plus bouquet.

Earlier this month, August 2017 we brought all the Spanish La Liga games to DStv Family and added 3 new international channels (BBCLifestyle, Food Network and Cbeebies). All countries – excluding Nigeria and Ghana – will also get Africa Magic Epic on DStv Access whileTrace Mziki will be available in East African markets. We remain committed to delivering the best league in the world – The Premier League – straight to your living rooms. And beginning September 1st, for much less!

“This substantial price drop across our DStv packages reinforces our commitment to ensuring that our customers receive the best possible access to great entertainment and outstanding value, said Odipo.

Currently, a DStv Zappa decoder retails at Sh5,000/- while the Explora decoder is going for Sh10,499/-. Both decoders come as full kits with satellite dish, cabling and connectors.

Entertainment is a powerful way to tell stories that open our minds, bring people together around shared passions, and connect us to new realities. It makes us laugh and cry. It informs, it educates and it inspires. As a Video Entertainment company our role is to enrich lives of our customers across the various territories we operate in, he added.

Odipo Riaga2215 Posts

Film Director, Tech and Business Blogger, Chess Player, and Photographer. God is Science.

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