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Oracle Airtime Sales,
kykNET,
M-Net Action,
M-Net Series,
M-Net Movies,
M-Net Stars,
KooWee,
AfricaMagic and
Channel O |
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PAY TELEVISION
South Africa
The pay-television sector provides
affordable entertainment and has proved
its resilience in tough economic conditions
when people cannot afford more expensive
forms of entertainment. The gross
base grew by 453 000 subscribers
to close on 2,4 million households at
31 March 2009. The three lower-priced tiers (the
entry-level EasyView; Select, which is a niche tier;
and Compact, a mid-priced tier aimed especially
at the growing emerging market) were strongly
promoted. The Compact bouquet increased by
212 000 gross subscribers.
A new high-definition personal video recorder
(PVR) was launched and further improvements will be introduced in the year ahead.
PVR sales reached 330 000. This facility
has revolutionised viewing habits, allowing
subscribers to record content to view later,
pause live television, as well as view and fast
forward recorded content, all at the touch of
a few buttons.
Our DStv bouquet comprising 87 channels
was refreshed during the year. New channels
added include ESPN Classic, eNews, CNBC
Africa, Nickelodeon, Saffron TV, AfricaMagic+,
Setmax and four new BBC channels. The live
broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in
high definition featured prominently, with
six dedicated channels.
Local productions in various genres
attracted growing audience numbers. Top
performers included reality shows, Idols V and
Big Brother Africa III; soap operas Egoli and
Binnelanders; comedy show Coconuts and
actuality show Carte Blanche.
However, margins came under pressure
due to intense bidding for key sports rights.
SuperSport is now by far the largest funder
of sport on the African continent. Pressure
on margins was further exacerbated by
increased decoder subsidies to stimulate
growth of the middle-class emerging market
in particular.
The Randburg customer service centre was
revamped to improve MultiChoice’s service
levels. Further improvements are in the
pipeline.
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