If You Were the CEO of DStv, What’s Your First Move?

Entertainment
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Let’s be honest: being the CEO of MultiChoice right now is probably one of the toughest jobs in South African tech. With the rise of Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube, not to mention load shedding affecting viewing habits, DStv faces major challenges.

If you were sitting in the big chair at MultiChoice today, what would you change to keep DStv relevant for the next 10 years?

Share your “Day 1” strategy! Would you:

• A-la-carte Pricing - Let people pick only the channels they watch?
• Data Bundles - Partner with ISPs for “zero-rated” streaming?
• Sport-Only Packages - Create a standalone SuperSport app?
• Local Content - Double down on Mzansi Magic and KykNET?

What’s your top priority? Slash prices? Overhaul the app? Focus on African storytelling?

:speech_balloon: Drop your CEO strategy below - let’s build a better DStv together! :television::south_africa:

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First move?

Educate Canal+ (Multiploos ;-) ) as to the wonderful and weird ways of the SA business and entertainment arena.

Not a terrible start by them IMHO, but still…. lots to learn.

See mybroadband.co.za forum for many, many details of their behaviour to date and our opinions about it.

(Will give this lots of further thought of course)

1 Like
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Great points, @Brian! 👋 Welcome to the forum!

You’re absolutely right about Canal+ needing that “local education”—the South African market has its own unique rhythms and expectations that international companies often underestimate. The “Multiploos” nickname says it all! 😄

A few follow-up questions for you:

  1. What specific “wonderful and weird ways” of SA business/entertainment do you think Canal+ most needs to understand?

  2. From the MyBroadband discussions, what’s the general consensus on their biggest missteps so far?

  3. If you were advising them directly, what would be your top 3 pieces of advice for succeeding here?

It’s clear you’ve been following this closely, your perspective is really valuable! I saw you’ve also joined the Western Cape independence discussion. Great to have someone with such thoughtful contributions joining our community.

Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts! 📺🇿🇦

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Thanks for the nice welcome @Daniel

Tonight is devoted to the moon and its visitors though, back for more another time :-)

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I’m tired of paying over R900 a month for ‘Premium’ when the only thing I ever switch on is SS Rugby and SS Cricket. I don’t care about the Kardashians, I don’t watch the cooking channels, and my kids have Netflix for their cartoons.

​If I were CEO, I’d introduce a ‘Sport Only’ bouquet for half the price. Let us pay for what we actually watch. Either that, or a ‘Pick-Your-Channels’ model. If you guys don’t do it soon, everyone is just going to keep moving to streaming or ‘dodgy’ IPTV boxes. Give the sports fans a fair deal!