What started as a fierce demand by Sam George (MP), Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, for fair pricing of pay TV from MultiChoice Ghana Ltd in their DStv subscription fees climaxed last week, with an announcement by the Minister on DStv’s price evaluation. In his address, the minister stated emphatically that he went into the negotiation seeking at least a 30 per cent reduction and has managed to land an “increased value offer” of 33 per cent to 50 per cent, depending on the package of a subscriber. In the Minister’s own words, subscribers get an “automatic upgrade” to the next higher package when they pay for or renew their package. Meaning that, a “Compact” package (GHS380) subscriber gets automatically upgraded to the next higher package, “Compact Plus” package (GHS570) at the same cost as the Compact package.

But, is the increased value offer what the minister promised?

The Criticality Analysis of Governance Issues (CAGI) has followed the Sam George – DStv pricing saga since it began. When the Minister appeared on the Government Accountability Series and stated, “I wrote back to the NCA on Monday and directed them to suspend DStv’s broadcasting license effective August 7, 2025, if the company refuses to reduce its bundle prices,” he was very emphatic about the goal of price evaluation. He demanded a price reduction. The CAGI of that week commented that “top-down mandates risk undermining the very market trust that underpins the economy’s recent upswing,” and recommended that the Ministry should “convene a structured meeting at which Multichoice would disclose its cost build-up—content licensing, currency hedging, local operations—and compare cross-market pricing, which such transparency would allow both sides to negotiate in good faith, aligned with Ghana’s broader commitment to market discipline.” Indeed, the meetings happened, and the outcome of the committee’s deliberation on the evaluation of DStv pricing was not MultiChoice reducing its bundle prices but rather an “unprecedented increased value offer” as announced by the Minister.

Is this increased value offer really unprecedented?

Well, unless you have never been a subscriber to MultiChoice’s DStv. MultiChoice occasionally offers upgrade promotions just like what the Minister announced, especially when it’s been a while since one reconnected their decoder. Subscribers usually get a call from MultiChoice as to why they are yet to reconnect and may offer their promotions, or an SMS that urges them to reconnect their decoder and get upgraded, or a month of extra viewing for them. Upgrades are just for the month, so it’s either you have to stay on the new package, which means you have to pay for the package, or downgrade to your former package. This is done to attract subscribers to higher packages. What, perhaps, may be uncommon is the nationwide rollout of this upgrade promotion to DStv subscribers.

DStv is a monthly (30-day) paid subscription, so what happens after a month of enjoying the increased value offer? Since this increased value offer is expected to exist till the committee reconvenes in the next three months, the offer is available while it lasts. However, a deeper understanding of DStv’s pricing system should let one know that the increased value offer upgrades a subscriber to the next higher packages, of which the prices have not changed. Padi is still GHS59, Access is GHS99, Family is GHS190, Compact is GHS380, Compact Plus is GHS570, and Premium is GHS865. If one gets upgraded to Compact Plus, it’s either he/she stays on the package in the following month and pay GHS570 to get channels still running. Unless MultiChoice clarifies that one can, in the second month, again pay for Compact (GHS380) and still get access to Compact Plus channels. Else, it’s either a subscriber downgrades or pay the price of his new package to ‘enjoy’, per DStv’s subscription system.

Essentially, what has been offered is just a nationwide upgrade promotion to all Ghanaian subscribers. It is not unprecedented, as MultiChoice usually runs this promotion. Most importantly, it is not a price reduction. Between 2021 and 2025, the monthly fee for the Access package climbed from around GHS45 to GHS99. That is about 120 per cent increase. Ghanaians need to know whether the increased value offer means new package values or just upgrades to the next higher package, which you either choose to stay on by paying its full value or downgrade to your former package in the following month.

The Hon. Sam George (MP), Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, must clarify.

Credit: IMANI’s Criticality Analysis of Governance and Economic Issues September 29 – October 3, 2025