Communications regulator UCC has issued a report covering the first quarter of 2020 and the results look gloomy for PayTV players in the country. Uganda has over 7 registered payTV players including DStv, Startimes, Zuku, Azam, GOtv, Kampala Citi Cable among others and collectively they all lost around 110,000 subscribers due to COVID-19.
The preceding period ended December 2019 saw a total active subscriber base of 1.69 Million only to contract by the end of the first quarter 2020 to 1.58 according to Daily Monitor. The contraction as much as 6% resulted from limited live sports coverage since most sports leagues across the world stopped matches and eventually putting a stop on airing them live on TV. Such leagues included the English Premier League, UEFA Champions, among others that have proven popular with Ugandan payTV subscribers. These have also proven to be cash cows for payTV players, who charge a premium for their sports offerings.
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“This may in part be attributed to the suspension of major sports leagues such as the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League due to the novel Coronavirus,” UCC’s report reads in part.
Around the same time, the uncertain economic outlook could have played a part since most people lost jobs or experienced salary cuts. This could have equally led to a contraction in the total subscriber base.
However, the future still looks rosy given sports programming has since resumed and so are the subscriptions. Still, the safest way to catch these games is on live TV amind the Coronavirus pandemic. PayTV players usually reserve such sports programming for their premium bouquets, so it is safe to say the 6% was mostly at the highest tier of bouquets
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Cheapest bouquet offerings represent over 40% of a given service provider’s subscriber base, while the most expensive account for 13%, according to the same UCC report. DStv seems to have been affected the most given it pretty much enjoys the premium segment to itself due to exclusive rights for the said football tournaments that form the bulk of premium payTV content.
