DStv loses 80 per cent of Kenyan subscribers in one year as price hikes bite
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the service had only 188,824 active accounts by June 30, 2025, down from 1.19 million a year earlier.
DStv has lost more than eight out of every ten of its active subscribers in Kenya in just one year, as price hikes and economic challenges make pay-TV increasingly unaffordable.
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the service had only 188,824 active accounts by June 30, 2025, down from 1.19 million a year earlier.
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The CA defines an active account as one with at least one subscription in the past 90 days.
The decline follows two rounds of price increases by MultiChoice Kenya, which operates DStv locally. On November 1, 2024, the DStv Premium package rose from Sh10,500 to Sh11,000, while Compact Plus increased from Sh6,500 to Sh6,800.
Prices were revised again on August 1, 2025, with Premium climbing to Sh11,700 and Compact Plus to Sh7,300.
These adjustments, which mark five times of price increases over three years, aimed to curb falling revenues, which declined to 7 per cent of MultiChoice’s total subscription earnings from 8 per cent the previous year.
The higher costs came at a time when many households and workers were dealing with near-stagnant incomes, forcing them to cut back on non-essential services like pay-TV.
This trend has coincided with a growing popularity of online streaming, particularly on illegal platforms, which many cost-conscious viewers are turning to.
To retain customers, MultiChoice Kenya has offered upgrade incentives for inactive users. For instance, a customer on the DStv Access package who pays Sh1,450 is upgraded to the DStv Family package, normally priced at Sh2,250.
The drop in DStv subscriptions contributed to a 76.9 per cent fall in overall active pay-TV users in Kenya, which declined to 1.47 million in the year to June.
Competitors also experienced declines: Azam’s active subscribers fell 63.1 per cent to 30,095, while Zuku recorded a marginal drop of 1.6 per cent to 252,051.
Like DStv, these providers, including StarTimes offer Direct-to-Home, Digital Terrestrial Television, and cable-based services and are facing pressure from illegal streaming platforms.
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