Naspers plans to use new products and services to attract more customers to its $58-a-month pay-TV offering in Nigeria as a weaker naira increases costs.
It is also in talks about increasing its mobile-TV offering in Africa's biggest economy, said John Ugbe, MultiChoice Nigeria CEO.
The naira has weakened by about 18% against the dollar in the past six months, the worst performer among 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg, as oil, which makes up almost all of Nigeria's exports, plunges.
Naspers had more than 8.4 million pay-TV subscribers as of September 30, the Cape Town-based company said in November. MultiChoice had sales of R36.3-billion in the year to March, an increase of 20%.
It plans to broadcast its Africa Magic channel in the local Nigerian Igbo language later this year. That will extend its reach to a third ethnic group in the country after the start of offerings in Hausa and Yoruba in 2010. The Igbo people have a population of about 32 million and are from Nigeria's southeast, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency Factbook.
Naspers was also making its decoders more power-efficient to help Nigerian customers suffering from low electricity voltages and blackouts, according to Ugbe.
It started to offer DStv Now in December, an application that allows subscribers to watch TV on their cell phones and tablets.
Naspers plans to raise as much as R1.1-billion by listing printing unit Novus on the JSE.
Novus will offer 80million shares from R12.25 each, the company said yesterday. Novus operates 11 printing presses and one tissue-producing plant in South Africa.
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