On 10 January 2024, Multichoice announced an agreement with rights holder New World TV, enabling SuperSport to broadcast all AFCON matches. Despite the initial failure in securing the rights, a distribution agreement was finally reached with the Togolese broadcaster. This achievement for the South African media giant comes against a difficult backdrop, with its satellite service DStv recording a decline in subscribers and profits at Q3 2023 in South Africa, marking the first downturn in the company’s most dynamic market. Notably, subscriber numbers fell by 7% between Q1 and Q3 2023. This reversal prompts questions about the sustained success of Multichoice since its inception. Until 2018, Pay TV revenues in South Africa surpassed the combined revenues of all other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even though the balance of power has shifted since then, South Africa’s Pay TV revenues still account for approximately 70% of the combined revenues of other African countries.

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On August 3 2023, the American streaming platform Disney+ launched a mobile plan in partnership with MTN in Africa, giving access to the entire Mickey Mouse catalog on top of data plans. Internet connectivity remains one of the main obstacles to the full adoption of OTT in Sub-Saharan Africa. By partnering with mobile operators, platforms can offer packages that include both a subscription plan and data at low cost and with a simplified payment method, since everything is reconciled on the mobile bill. While a year ago, Vodacom’s platform Video play appeared to be a great success , its closure at the end of 2022 has called into question the ability of mobile operators to sustain competitive and profitable platforms. Then, how far can telecom operators be involved in the OTT market?

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