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MultiChoice, the local distributor of Digital Satellite Television (DStv), introduced new Ethiopian programs and TV packages with the major aim of catering to the Ethiopian audience.
The Amharic programming content line-up of DStv released as of today will contain Trace music, a dedicated 24 hours Ethiopian music channel, Nick Jr, the educational, pre-school channel from Nickelodeon, Bollywood movies dubbed in Amharic, and European football league channels with Amharic commentators.
The TV broadcaster is offering its new programs in packages. The company introduced three DStv packages, namely DStv Gojo, DStv Family, and DStv Meda, with price tags of 220 birr, 380 birr, and 550 birr respectively.
MultiChoice, who has operated in the country since 1992, also employed a massive marketing campaign for the past month before announcing its new programs. The company set up several advertisements on billboards, Newspapers, and TV commercials that said, “Egan Yehonewu Man New?” that roughly translates to “who represents us?”.
“The market research we conducted showed that there is a great demand for local content that relates to Ethiopians,” said Ezana Wubshet public relations and communication manager at MultiChoice Ethiopia.
“Our “Egan Yehonewu Man New” marketing campaign is also meant to supplement this new look of DStv and show Ethiopians are now represented in DStv contents” added Ezana.
With its goal of adding more value to Ethiopian customers, DStv has also recently added ten local television channels to its broadcast services.
The latest move form DStv comes just before the French pay-television broadcaster Canal+ is set launche its Ethiopian premium channels in 2021.
Dubbed Canal+ Ethiopia, the broadcast programs that will be aired through the Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform will have some 50 channels.
Canal+ also plans to start at least eight new exclusive local TV channels that focus on different issues in addition to its sports channels.
In their competition to cater to the Ethiopian audience, the two pay-TV companies are expected to contribute to the development of local production and local storytelling, increase the number of independent production houses in Ethiopia, and create employment opportunities.
The MultiChoice Group is one of the leading Tv broadcasters in Africa, with access to 19.5m households in the continent.
