A. Three price hikes in 12 months.
B. Staggering 1.2 million subscribers lost at the end of its last financial year.
C. 1.4 million subscribers in Nigeria alone gone in over two years.
D. Court cases and CEO summons by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the country’s consumer protection watchdog, over the hikes in its subscription packages.
E. Testing of weekly bundles in Uganda.
F. The unbundling of SuperSport—it’s crown and jewel.
It is clear: Multichoice is scrambling to survive.
In Nigeria, the over-the-top (OTT) video market—basically, streaming platforms—has a projected revenue of $1.22 billion in 2025, and is expected to have 14.8 million users by 2030. As OTT media services continue to lure viewers with flexible, cheaper, ad-free content, Multichoice’s once-loyal audience is slipping away.
Now, the pay-TV giant is in full damage control mode. In its latest move, Multichoice Nigeria slashed the price of its decoder by 50%, from ₦20,000 ($13) to ₦10,000 ($6.5). It’s also offering a free package upgrade for any subscriber who pays their current subscription in full between June 16 and July 31.
The new campaign is being sold as a reward for loyalty and a response to the harsh economic reality of Nigerians, but this seems more like a survival play than a goodwill gesture.
Whether it works or not, the truth is MultiChoice is staring down an empty barrel.
The Multichoice of old—dominant, unchallenged, the one that went ‘Loading… 1 of 100’ in a painfully slow booting process—is gone. Today’s Multichoice is buffering in real time.
