Multichoice says World Cup will be profitable

Multichoice, the parent company of satellite television service provider Dstv, on Thursday said it expects to see a return on investment it made towards the upcoming Fifa World Cup (FWC), to be held in Qatar.

The company, in its interim results, said it had spent R700-million in decoders ahead of the upcoming FWC. “…This investment supports the anticipated subscriber growth opportunity around the FWC while at the same time mitigating the growing risk of supply-chain disruptions from global silicon chip shortages,” the company said.

The group had 9.1 million subscribers in South Africa at the end of September and a further 13 million in the rest of Africa operations. The company’s six months ended September results show its domestic market registered a 2% decrease in revenues to R17.4-billion, while the rest of Africa operation fared better, with revenues of R10.5-billion, an increase of 28%.