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When Multichoice Uganda sought to replace their long-serving Chief Executive, Charles Hamya, they turned to Hassan Saleh.
MultiChoice Uganda is 100% owned by MultiChoice Africa Holdings- the South-African headquartered entertainment group with over 28 million subscribers in 50 African countries.
Saleh, who assumed office on August 2019, is an accomplished salesperson with a solid CV. His most immediate job was General Manager, Sales and Distribution for MTN Sudan, and before that, he was the Chief Officer, Sales and Distribution for Vodacom Tanzania, for 5 years; Sales and Distribution Director for Airtel Kenya for nearly 2 years and Country Sales and Marketing Manager for Coca-Cola in Uganda for 2 years. In total, he spent nearly 10 years at Coca-Cola in different marketing and sales responsibilities.
Upon his appointment, Saleh said he was “excited to return to Uganda” and to drive the business’ customer-centricity agenda.
“My priority is to ensure that we continue to take our brands, product, and services to new heights and make sure we remain Uganda’s most-loved video entertainment destination,” he said.
But as fate would have it, the Covid-19 pandemic set in hardly six months later dampening the economy and with it, pay TV subscriptions.
Even as the economy began to recover, a number of things have changed about the business. The cost of content and cost of technology has gone up. This has been made worse by the residual effects of the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russian crisis, which is partly to blame for inflation in much of the world. Faced with no option, Multichoice has had to increase its tariffs both for its Dstv and GOtv brands.
On March 1st 2023, the company announced that effective April 1st increase its tariffs for its various Dstv packages by between 6% – 10%.
In the planned increments, the premium package was increased by 7.8% or UGX20,000 from UGX255,000 to UGX275,000, while Compact Plus was increased by UGX10,000 or 6.7% from UGX150,000 to UGX160,000. The Compact package was increased by UGX9,000 or 9.5%, from UGX95,000 to UGX104,000. The Family package went up by UGX5,000 or 8.5% from UGX59,000 to UGX64,000 while the Access Package went by 10.3% or UGX4,000, from UGX39,000 to UGX43,000.
Lumba, the lowest entry package went by 6.7% or UGX1,000 from UGX15,000 to UGX16,000. For extra view, including PVR Access Fees, customers will also have to part with UGX4,000 more, from UGX46,000 to UGX50,000- an increase of 8.7%.
GOtv, the value platform that caters for the middle to the low end of the market, also upped its subscription fees, by between 6%-12%. The GOtv Supa package went up by 12.1% or UGX7000, from UGX58,000 to UGX65,000 while GOtv Max went up by 8.9%, from UGX45,000 to UGX49,000⏤ an increment of UGX4,000. GOtv Plus went by 6.5% or UGX2000 from UGX31,000 to UGX33,000. GOtv Value went up from UGX19000 to UGX21,000, an increase of UGX2,000 or 10.5%. GOtv Lite went up by 7.1% or UGX1000 from UGX14,000 to UGX15,000.
This didn’t go down well with the customers- especially online. So significant was the backlash that some clients started a “boycott Dstv campaign”. How successful this campaign was, is early to tell.
Multichoice stuck to its guns, insisting the price changes were a carefully thought out business decision and was in response to the economic outlook.
“Due to the rise of costs in doing business, we need to adjust the prices of our packages. However, we endeavour to keep prices as low as possible while ensuring that our customers continue to enjoy unparalleled access to entertainment, anywhere, anytime and with the best quality service,” Rinaldi Jamugisa, the PR & Communications Manager for Multichoice Uganda told CEO of East Africa Magazine in a statement.
But customers are not just riled about the pricing changes alone. Even before the price increment, consumers had also frequently complained about old and often over-repeated content. So the complaints about price increments were not just about affordability but value for money as well.
But Jamugisa is convinced the company is offering value for money. He says that customers have a choice across six packages with a total of over 230 channels on DStv and over 70 channels on GOtv; accessible on multiple platforms. The content ranges from news, audio channels, kid’s content, international movies, series and shows, as well as documentaries.
Additionally, according to Jamugisa, “as part of our hyper-local strategy, we have dedicated up to 4 channels to support local content shows produced by Ugandans for African audiences”.
“In just 2 years, Pearl Magic Prime (DStv Ch 148 / GOtv Ch 305) has provided a platform for Ugandan producers, delivering more than 25 licensed and commissioned shows and over 70,000 watch hours in the content library. The other local channels on DStv and GOtv respectively are; Pearl Magic (Ch 161 /304 Ch), Pearl Magic Loko (Ch 142/315) and Maisha Magic Movies (Ch 141/311),” he adds.
“Our strategy is based on delivering compelling content, innovative technology, and excellent customer service. Uganda remains a key market for MultiChoice and we remain steadfast in our promise to our customers to deliver the great value we will continue to drive this by focusing on how we can better serve our consumers,” Jamugisa adds.
Unhappy customers begin to walk away
While Uganda will not divulge its customer satisfaction numbers, according to the Group’s Annual Report, the customer satisfaction ratings for the Rest of Africa region, where Uganda falls, largely remained flat in 2022⏤ at 73% compared to 72% the year before) for DSTV and 69% compared to 70% the year before for Go TV.
According to the same annual Group Report, although Uganda added all these great channels, it did not stop 90-day active customers from falling by 3% year-on-year.
The Group attributed this to being in a “highly competitive” market, “, particularly at the lower end in DTT, where subscribers are feeling the most pronounced economic pressure”.
Uganda has 7 pay-tv companies⏤ Dstv, Siticable, Azam TV, Startimes (Satellite), Startimes (terrestrial), Zuku Tv and Go TV. Dstv and GOtv are owned by Multichoice.
But there are also other unconventional competitors such as the Video-on-Demand giant, Netflix, as well as online streaming service Youtube and short video hosting service, TikTok. Netflix is said to have an estimated 2.6 million subscribers in Africa and this is estimated to reach at least 7 million by 2028, according to Digital TV Research (DTR).
But amidst these challenges, Multichoice is still optimistic about Africa, including Uganda.
In a note to stakeholders in its annual report, the company is still betting on “the rise in electrification, connectivity and digital banking increase, and a growing, urbanising middle class with rising discretionary spend”.
“The continent represents a compelling addressable market,” reads the note.
All said and done, Hassan Saleh’s job is well cut out.