List of some satellite tv providers that are competition to DStv/Multichoice in Sub-Saharan Africa

Truly, DStv has bestrode the satellite TV scene of Africa like a colossus for more than two decades. They have what I term a natural monopoly. They have the best hands as their staff, up to 6 million subscribers and currently hold the exclusive right to broadcast EPL from sub-Saharan Africa until 2021/2022. The question now is that, isn’t there a real rival to DStv? which of the various satellite companies that we have in Africa can be tagged a competitor to DStv? What are the DStv alternatives?

The questions can go on and on and on. However, take a seat as I will try as much as I can to demystify the phenomenon surrounding the unwillingness of most satellite tv companies to take on DStv head-to-head. Also, I will talk about the current real competition to DStv.

Must read: EPL broadcast rights exclusivity explained in details

Which territory does DStv Multichoice Africa legally occupy?

First off, DStv has the right to legally broadcast within every country that falls under Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, they have exclusive rights to certain contents most especially EPL. According to Wikipedia: Sub-Saharan Africa consists of all African countries that are fully or partially located south of the Sahara. It contrasts with North Africa, whose territories are part of the League of Arab States within the Arab world. Somalia, Djibouti, Comoros, and Mauritania are geographically in Sub-Saharan Africa but are likewise Arab states and part of the Arab world. In other words, DStv is available and can operate in all African states except most North African countries.

Why are there no companies that can wrestle EPL rights out of the hands of DStv in Sub-Saharan Africa?

I cannot speak for other countries, but I know my country Nigeria has the richest man in Africa. Apart from this, we have several other billionaires in Nigeria that have the resources to invest in the satellite business. South Africa also has rich citizens. The question once again is why are there no real DStv alternatives. Get the answers below:

• How premier league rights are acquired: Premier League specified a not-too-easy method of rights acquisition which is based on broadcast rights exclusivity. No matter how rich you are, you cannot just go to PL to acquire rights. You have to bid for it and they will always give the highest bidder. The downside of this is that if the rights are worth $200,000 and Mr a comes with $201,000, Mr. B with 220,000, and Mr c with 220,500. Pl will sell the rights to Mr. C. In business, you must not buy what you cannot sell. DStv already has the structure and the market. Any new entrants that are ready to outbid them(like HITV did) must match this with the ability to sell profitably. You cannot expect a good businessman who wishes to start up in Nigeria to outbid DStv and also makes profits easily.
• Maybe if HITV didn’t die the way it did(due to mismanagement and debt) DStv would not have been so strong. The second factor that scares investors away from wrestling the rights out of DStv’s hands is “the failure of HITV” Hitv did very well but it failed to sustain the brand. It couldn’t balance the cost with the profit.
• Thirdly, no one company can buy it all. However, DStv owns a great chunk of sports content in Sahara Africa. They will broadcast, the world cup, and they have rights to UCL and also EPL. Imagine if a not well-structured company buys just the EPL rights, does it mean you will need to buy DStv for your UCL actions?
• Fear of reaction by DStv if any company outbid them for EPL rights and fails to wrestle the remaining rights from them. This happened during the defunct HITV spell. DStv still maintained the rights to major UCL matches. Commercial soccer viewing centers had a swell time then. They were all forced to buy both decoders, That in itself cut slack on IHITV’s profits.

WHAT CAN BE DONE LEGALLY TO BREAK DSTV’S MONOPOLY?

There are two ways by which this monopoly as a result of the exclusivity of rights of Sporting content can be broken.

An already established satellite tv conglomerate should wrestle the rights

If companies like Bein, kwese, or canalsat can develop interest. I mean if they are interested in outbidding DStv come 2022/2023/. However, of the three companies, only two are strong enough to do it promptly(talking of beiN and canalsat). Unfortunately, both beIN and Canal are already enjoying their own exclusive rights in their respective areas of broadcast territory. As for kwese tv, they are at more advantage to do well with the rights since they currently hold little or no exclusive rights for EPL and UCL currently. Also, kwese is spreading like wildfire across Africa.

Secondly, competitors should pray that DStv willingly lost interest in the game of renewing their sporting rights. I doubt this will ever happen. It can never happen. You can only outbid them, you cannot expect them to relinquish their most valuable rights.

Currently, what are the real DStv alternatives to sports content broadcast?

We basically have two satellite tv companies that have the right(limited in their own ways) to broadcast EPL matches. These companies are kwese sports and Canal Afrique.

• Kwese TV through kwese sports: They currently have the rights to One EPL match on Saturdays. Also, you can enjoy other sports like martial arts, basketball, the world cup, carling cup on kwese tv. They have their tentacles spread across some decent countries in sub-Saharan Africa and they are still expanding. Who knows, they might eventually gather a momentum heavy enough to blow away DStv.
• Canalsat+ Afrique: This group has the exclusive rights to operate in French-speaking African countries in the Sahara. However, they are not officially allowed to rebroadcast the sports rights that DStv has. They can only broadcast sports legally in French-speaking African countries like Congo, Togo, and the like. That is the reason why we do not have canal sports officially in Nigeria. However, if Canal+ can buy the right to broadcast in English in Sub-saharan Africa from PL, then DStv will lose its major market share.
• Startimes: Although I do not see them doing this anytime soon.
• TSTV: Let us wait and see. nothing can be done before 2021/2022 though.

Other satellite packages that are competition for DStv

Sincerely, the greatest threat to DStv is not the official providers within Sub-Saharan Africa. IKS, dongles, SKS, and IPTV are the ones currently doing the real damage. Do not forget that DStv in conjunction with other providers is clamping down on this seriously. You can read more about this here.

Were it to be only entertainment channels, DStv would have lost it long ago. I mean we have many satellite tv providers that are offering quality entertainment and news channels. In fact, some of these are fresher than that of DSTV. Moving further, the ones doing the havoc stealthily are as follows.

• Powervu decoders are the most dangerous devices as far as Dstv is concerned. The reason is not farfetched with Sports 24 HD still working on a 1.8-meter dish, many will go for a powervu decoder for EPL and UCL. It has its own downside, it can be blocked. In fact, it gets blocked at random
• Secondly, we have the enigmatic “IPTV” being used in the form of streaming piracy: This would have come first if not for the weak and expensive internet connection that we have in most Su-Saharan countries including Nigeria.
• Metro and CTL; This is a pirate satellite company that is operating as an official. They are limited in the scope of coverage.
• Any decoder or cccam account that can open premium sports channels on satellite packages like Hotbird, hispasat, camar 3, 19.2e, zap, canal reunion… this is also piracy. you can pay for it under the law
• Random FTA satellite packages are also a kind of occasional competition to DStv. This is not a big threat as they will most likely fail to satisfy your sporting needs.