In a fierce battle for market share, Multichoice Group, the parent company of Pay TV station, DSTV has announced a new partnership with Walt Disney Company Africa.
This partnership will see two 24-hour ESPN channels and other channels added to DSTV subscribers in Africa starting from Wednesday 29 July 2020.
This news will no doubt excite viewers who will now be able to watch channels featuring major US sport as well as European football, on the ESPN & ESPN 2 channels. Customers can now watch popular leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB).
They will now also watch live football from the English Football League (EFL), Scottish Premier Football League (SPFL), Dutch Eredivisie and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as local sports including the West African Football Union (WAFU), Cup of Nations, and featured boxing tournaments.
“As Africa’s leading video entertainment platform, we are unwavering in our commitment to ensure that we continue to find the best available content to delight our customers, both now and into the future. We endeavor to deliver both world-class international content as well as the very best in local content, giving our loyal customers a never-ending selection of outstanding entertainment,” Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group’s Chief Executive Officer disclosed.
On her part, Walt Disney Company Africa’s Senior President and Country Manager, Christine Service expressed her delight about the deal.
“We are thrilled to be bringing the achievements and triumphs of both international and local athletes, our quality storytelling and innovative programming to a whole new audience of sports fans in Africa,” she said.
Recall that two of Nigeria’s Pay-TV operators StarTimes and DSTV have both been in a fierce battle for the control of market share in Nigeria. Earlier in June, StarTimes announced the addition of two premium sports and one Hollywood channel to its packages without any additional cost to customers.
Both PayTVs companies increased the price of their packages by the end of Q1 2020 in response to the reviewed VAT rates and naira depreciation, but a step ahead, StarTimes introduced a flexible Pay-As-You-Go package, allowing customers to pay as for what they watch for as low as N90 daily. This is something that MultiChoice has refused to do despite customers’ agitations for it.
