MultiChoice Nigeria has reduced the price of its DStv decoder by 50 percent, from ₦20,000 to ₦10,000, in a strategic effort to recover from a significant drop in its subscriber base and reassert its presence in Nigeria’s pay-TV market.
The company made the announcement on Tuesday, introducing the price slash as part of its new ‘We Got You’ campaign aimed at enhancing customer retention and acquisition.
MultiChoice lost approximately 1.4 million subscribers between March 2023 and March 2025, amid economic headwinds and rising competition from streaming platforms.
John Ugbe, Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice Nigeria, stated that the company’s repositioning strategy focuses on customer value, affordability and content diversification.
“We want to ensure our customers feel appreciated and have access to the best entertainment every day,” Ugbe said. “The ‘We Got You’ campaign is about making premium content more accessible and showing that DStv offers something for everyone, not just football fans.”
In addition to the decoder price cut, MultiChoice is offering a temporary promotional upgrade to the next subscription tier for active customers who pay for their current plan in full between June 16 and July 31, 2025.
The incentive is designed to stimulate engagement across more content genres and expand viewing beyond the company’s traditional sports-driven customer segment.
The pay-TV operator confirmed that the dual incentives—lower decoder cost and free tier upgrade—are part of a broader response to Nigeria’s current economic challenges. Rising inflation, declining purchasing power, and multiple subscription price hikes over the past year have affected household spending patterns.
Between April 2023 and May 2024, MultiChoice implemented three separate increases across its DStv and GOtv packages, citing operational cost pressures and currency fluctuations. The price hikes drew backlash from subscribers and triggered churn, particularly among cost-sensitive customers.
By reducing hardware entry costs and offering more content value, MultiChoice aims to restore its customer base and enhance its competitive positioning in the entertainment market.
The company explained that DStv is expanding its value proposition beyond sports to include news, kids’ content, lifestyle programming, drama and movies.
“This means more channels, more shows, and more reasons to tune in every day,” the company said in a statement.
The campaign reflects a pivot toward value-focused broadcasting and a direct attempt to reposition DStv as a daily entertainment solution for a broader range of Nigerian households.
