Henok Mehari is a musician who founded the Mehari Brothers musical band in 2006. In addition to leading the popular musical group, which includes his siblings Robel, Lewam, and Halal, Henok is also well-known for hosting, producing, and directing the Musicology television programme, a show that spotlights the philosophy behind talented and creative musicians. Henok launched the programme out of the belief that there is very little space in the Ethiopian entertainment industry for music philosophy and the stories behind tunes and melodies.

Musicology was launched in 2019 and first aired on Kana TV. The show, however, made the switch to DStv's Abol TV channel earlier this year.

Henok, who says that he shifted to DStv because it was the only choice he had after resigning from Kana, has received multiple complaints from his viewers, who argue that they will not have the access they were used to once the show begins airing on a pay-TV platform requiring them to pay a monthly subscription fee.

Even though Henok knew that he might lose some viewers after leaving Kana, he thinks it is a step in the right direction, supposing that pay-TV outweighs the drawbacks of losing viewership for artists like him. The pay-TV system is not harmful, according to Henok, who argues that it is a tool that will help elevate art to the level it deserves in a country where artists have a difficult time gaining recognition and monetising their work.

“After a certain period of time and coordination, it is clear that the Ethiopian TV industry is going to shift to the scheme of pay-TV because our art also needs the growth we see in other nations,” Henok told Fortune.

Subscription television first started in Ethiopia about 25 years ago, when the South African MultiChoice introduced its DStv service to the market. Since the concept of pay-TV was a novel idea at the time and there was no policy framework as to licensing and broadcasting, it was difficult for them to set up. In addition, the service encountered resistance from the public, which was reluctant to sign up for what they thought of as an extravagant product due to its relatively high prices.

Eventually, after it broadened its content and services, it got closer to the community and became more affordable, offering five packages with prices ranging from 220 Br to 2,600 Br monthly. The service has since grown but the management at MultiChoice Ethiopia Plc, the sole distributor for DStv, were reluctant to say just how much. According to techcentral.co.za, a South African technology news website, MultiChoice had around 19 million subscribers across Africa at the end of 2019, with the majority being from South Africa. The company currently operates in 49 African countries.

Additionally, MultiChoice collaborated with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority in the latter's efforts to set up a legal framework, in the form of a proclamation, to govern pay-TV services in the country. Though this has made things simpler for those wishing to follow in MultiChoice's footsteps, not very many have managed to do so thus far.

Currently, there are four pay-TV distributors that are licensed by the Authority in accordance with a directive that was issued in 1999: MultiChoice Ethiopia Plc for the distribution of DStv; Bridgetech Plc for StarTimes; Bruh Entertainment Plc for CANAL+; and SNF Entertainment Plc for the distribution of KWESE TV.

With the exception of SNF Entertainment Plc, which was given its license in October 2018, they are all operational.

StarTimes is a China-based broadcaster that came to Ethiopia in 2018 in anticipation of a large market in the pay-TV industry, according to Biruk Gebru, CEO of Bridgetech Broadcasting and Media Plc.

StarTimes offers four packages for local and international clients with prices ranging from 200 Br to 560 Br a month. However, it is more popular for its sports programming, airing content like the German Bundesliga, the Spanish La Liga, FA Cup, Spanish Copa Del Rey, Europa League, and NBA basketball.

“Currently, our big customers are families with kids, documentary lovers, and sports fans,” said Biruk.

StarTimes currently operates in more than 25 Sub-Saharan African countries with a subscriber base exceeding 15 million.

The latest to jump into the pay-TV market in Ethiopia is CANAL+, a subsidiary of the French CANAL+ Group, which has over 22 million subscribers worldwide. The company officially launched its services in the country in late April, 2021, over two decades after DStv pioneered subscription television in Ethiopia.

Bruh Entertainment, the sole distributor, chose CANAL+ because it has built up its success through its ability to design the pay-TV platform for local cultures and languages, for more than 30 years.

“We wanted to bring something different to the community," said Teodros Abraham, CEO of Bruh Entertainment.

Even though CANAL+ entered the pay-TV industry long after DStv, they faced similar challenges in setting up.

For one, free-to-air (FTA) channels have a huge influence in Ethiopia due to the country's proximity to free commercial satellites owned and operated by wealthy Middle Eastern countries. The public has long had free access to movies, music, and local channels through satellite operators like Arabsat, Eutelsat and Nilesat. All this without incurring any financial burden barring initial costs for decoders and satellite dishes, which can be acquired for around 1,300 Br at current market prices.

In addition, a lack of foreign currency, which is a bottleneck for the pay-TV business as it is for so many others, has been an obstacle. Ethiopia had less than three billion dollars in its foreign currency reserve last year, which was only enough to cover 2.5 months of the country's imports.