UCC market performance reports indicate that subscriber numbers have in the last two years dropped by 58.3 percent. Photo / File
On February 13, 2025, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) wrote to different government agencies, informing them of a decision to institute a probe that would investigate and mitigate the entry of streaming devices that were broadcasting content that is exclusive to pay television service providers.
The letters, which were addressed to Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, and Uganda Revenue Authority, followed an investigation by UCC, in which it found evidence of multiple streaming devices imported from China and United Arab Emirates and were being used to bypass pay television systems to pirate their content.
UCC had acted on a lead from MultiChoice, in which the pay television service provider – operating DStv and GOtv, had petitioned the regulator to rein in third-party vendors that were taking advantage of a technological shift to encroach on content for which it had exclusive rights.
In its petition, MultiChoice had indicated that the existence and entry of such streaming devices was not only illegal but had buffeted on its bottom line, with the company losing at least Shs2.74b annually due to piracy.
“From the statistics presented by DStv, the investigating team ascertained that residential and commercial piracy had an enormous impact on revenue with the total cost of piracy being [Shs2.74b] per year to MultiChoice and Uganda at large,” UCC wrote in a letter in which it initiated a multi-agency discussion into the matter.
In its investigation, UCC had found several streaming devices, including a series of Starsat decoders, Mediastar, Senator (series), Red Tiger Digital satellite receiver, Digsat (series), and Surplus receivers, which it sought to understand how they were entering the country and who their local distributors were.
It was not immediately possible to ascertain the progress of the probe commissioned by UCC.
Phone calls to Mr Ibrahim Bbossa, the UCC head of public and international relations, went unanswered by press time.
However, to understand the gravity of piracy, you must look at the UCC reports that tell the story of a sector – pay television – whose numbers are being buffeted.
Of course, the sector has been facing several challenges, including an aggressive technological shift, changing consumer behavior, and failure to draw a satisfactory consumer pricing model, among others, but piracy has made it worse by availing cheaper options that pirate exclusive content at under-the-table prices.
The reports, therefore, give the true picture of subscriber numbers that are dropping off the pay television wagon in droves - with suggestions pointing to a destination that can only be pirated content.
In the last two years, according to UCC market performance reports, subscriber numbers have drastically dropped by 58.3 percent, falling from 2.4 million in the three months to March 2023, to just one million.
UCC has previously blamed the drop on programming patterns such as football seasons, but the drop has been consistent in the last two years, presenting a picture of a sector that is losing subscribers and not recruiting new ones or a sector whose recruits cannot compensate for those being lost.
Across the board, pay television service providers have been registering a drop in subscriber numbers. Photo / File
The loss in numbers
For instance, in the 24 months to December 2024, pay TV service providers lost about 1.4 million subscribers, representing a percentage decline of 58.3 percent, which was more than the 1.1m active subscribers as of September 2024.
In 2023 alone, pay television service providers lost at least 900,000 subscribers, with the worst loss of at least 800,000 subscribers recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
The sector closed 2023 with at least 1.5 million subscribers; however, by the close of 2024, the numbers had dropped to just a million.
UCC data indicates that in 2024 alone, pay television service providers lost at least 31.9 percent of subscribers, which translates to an actual aggregate loss of 470,000 subscribers.
During all the four quarters, the sector recorded declines, but the worst drops were logged in the third quarter of the year - June to September - in which subscriber numbers declined by 21.4 percent or 300,000 from 1.4 million in June 2024 to 1.1 million in the same year.
The numbers have since dropped to just a million, according to the UCC Market Performance Report for the three months to December 2024.
Mr Rinaldi Jamugisa, the MultiChoice public relations and communications manager, has previously indicated that they continue to see growth in content piracy and are working with the regulator and other agencies to find ways of mitigating the vice.
Yesterday, he said, whereas it is difficult to quantify the current loss as a sector in terms of revenue, across East Africa, pay television service providers “lose approximately $1.3b (Shs4.7 trillion) annually to all forms of piracy, according to the 2020 report by the International Chamber of Commerce”.
Furthermore, he said a report by Uganda Registration Service Bureau had previously indicated that television-related piracy, as of December 2023, was costing the entertainment sector at least $3.2m (Shs11.7b).
On a whole, data indicates, Uganda loses about $110m (Shs402.6b), which translates to at least $25.3m in terms of taxable income to government.
“Essentially, it [piracy] affects service delivery and growth of the industry beyond pay television businesses like ours. The filmmakers and content creators lose when somebody pirates their content. It means they have lost an opportunity to make money off their creation,” he said.
