Kenya's pay-TV market reached 1.55 million active subscriptions in June 2026, up 4.9% year on year, even as collapsing cable subscriptions and growing use of internet-delivered television point to a gradual shift away from traditional decoder-based viewing.
Latest sector data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite services continuing to grow, while cable subscriptions fell sharply.
Total active broadcasting subscriptions increased from 1.48 million in June 2025, although the market contracted 1.8% compared with March 2026.
DTT remains largest pay-TV category
Digital terrestrial television remained Kenya's largest subscription broadcasting category, reaching 874,777 subscriptions in June, an increase of 8.4% year on year.
DTH satellite subscriptions increased 6.8% to 643,947.
Cable moved sharply in the opposite direction, falling to just 30,240 subscriptions, representing a decline of around 55% over the year.
The figures show that conventional pay-TV has not disappeared as streaming grows. Both terrestrial and satellite services continued adding subscribers, but the distribution mix is changing as internet-delivered alternatives become more widely available.
MultiChoice grows 27% as gap with StarTimes narrows
MultiChoice recorded the strongest subscriber growth among the major operators.
Its combined DStv and GOtv subscriber base increased 27.2% year on year to 640,430, adding 137,086 subscriptions.
DStv grew 37.2% to 259,047 subscriptions, while the larger GOtv service increased 21.3% to 381,383.
StarTimes remained Kenya's largest combined pay-TV operator with 683,265 terrestrial and satellite subscribers, although its total base declined 0.7%.
The difference between the two operators narrowed considerably. StarTimes led MultiChoice by nearly 185,000 subscriptions in June 2025, but that gap had fallen to approximately 42,800 a year later.
The figures indicate a significantly tighter competitive market even before accounting for the growing importance of streaming services.
Zuku loses more than 67,000 subscribers
Zuku experienced the sharpest contraction among the major providers.
Its combined satellite and cable subscriber base declined 26.6% to 184,882, representing a loss of 67,169 customers over the year.
Zuku's satellite subscriptions fell 16.4% to 157,051, while its cable subscriber base plunged 56.7% to 27,831.
The decline in Zuku's cable operation broadly reflects the contraction occurring across the wider cable category.
CA attributed the 1.8% quarter-on-quarter decline in total broadcasting subscriptions partly to customers migrating toward IPTV.
The regulator also identified rising decoder acquisition costs, following increases in global chipset and component prices, as another factor affecting conventional pay-TV subscriptions.
Broadcasters push streaming as viewing shifts online
The competitive response increasingly extends beyond traditional broadcast platforms.
MultiChoice discontinued Showmax in 2026 after saying substantial annual losses had become unsustainable amid growing competition in streaming.
Former Showmax subscribers in Kenya were subsequently offered DStv Stream Compact for KSh550 per month for 12 months, substantially below its regular KSh4,200 price.
The move provides MultiChoice with a route for retaining streaming customers within the broader DStv ecosystem while reducing dependence on dedicated decoder hardware.
CANAL+ and Samsung have also expanded the distribution of DStv Stream. Beginning in June 2026, the application was pre-installed on new Samsung Smart TVs sold in Kenya and 17 other African markets.
That arrangement further reduces the hardware barrier between consumers and traditional pay-TV providers' internet-delivered services.
Streaming becomes increasingly important to telecom traffic
The transition also has implications beyond the television industry.
CA research identifies online streaming as both a disruptor of traditional broadcasting revenues and an increasingly important source of mobile data consumption.
That creates a closer relationship between developments in Kenya's broadcasting and telecom markets. As television consumption moves over broadband and mobile networks, viewing growth increasingly translates into additional demand for internet capacity and data.
The June figures nevertheless demonstrate that the transition is not uniform. DTT and satellite subscriptions are still expanding, while cable is contracting rapidly and broadcasters are simultaneously strengthening their internet distribution strategies.
Source: MEA Tech Watch Press Reporter
