Multichoice will pay a ₦766 million penalty for privacy breach
The data privacy fine couldn’t have come at a worse time, as it battles to win back subscribers.
When you're already slashing decoder prices just to keep people watching, the last thing you need is a ₦766 million fine crashing into your balance sheet. But that’s exactly what just hit Multichoice Nigeria.
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) started investigating Multichoice in 2024 over data privacy, and have now fined the pay-TV giant ₦766 million for violating the privacy of its users by unauthorised data transfers and cross-border movements of personal information.
This is even more unfortunate when you factor in Multichoice losses. For the past three years, things have gotten pretty rough for Multichoice. Subscriber numbers have been sliding lately, losing roughly 1.4 million users between 2023 and 2025. To recoup, they’ve been experimenting with different incentives from slashing decoder prices by 50 percent, and even testing weekly subscription plans in Uganda to give customers more flexibility, and now, they’re met with this?
When you layer in the data scandal, it shakes consumer trust even harder. Finding out that your personal information may have been mishandled or shipped off to servers in some unknown country isn’t exactly comforting. For a company that relies on recurring subscriptions, keeping people feeling safe and respected is just as important as offering good content or a decent decoder deal.
From NDPC’s press release, Multichoice had the chance to fix things before it got to this point. However, its response fell short. Whether from complacency or a misjudgment of the law’s reach, the lack of full cooperation only made it worse.
And for Multichoice, getting penalized isn't unfamiliar. Back in 2021, the company had its accounts frozen in Nigeria over tax-related issues. Now, with the twin blows of shuttered revenue and reputational risk, the company must double down on reform.
The timing couldn't be worse: lowering prices shrank profit margins, and now a massive compliance fine cuts deeper, especially for a company trying to chart a path back to growth.
