DStv Indian Add-on: Zee TV Out in SA 31 Oct, Zee World Stays

We checked on 8 October, just after 7pm. AidaPay's catalogue still sells the DStv Indian add-on for ₦14,900, with ₦22.35 cashback, and lists it twice, as "DStv Indian" and as "DStv India Add-on". Zee TV is still on 452 in DStv Nigeria's channel guide.

So nothing has moved here yet. In South Africa, the same pack loses Zee TV and four other channels on 31 October while the price stays put. Zee World isn't one of them. No Nigerian notice, either.

Five channels go in South Africa. Three of them are on our guide

MultiChoice emailed its Add Indian subscribers in South Africa on 30 September, Broadcast Media Africa reports. The channels go dark at 23:59 Central Africa Time on the last day of October. Lagos runs an hour behind. That makes it a minute to 11pm here, and if Nigeria gets the same cut on the same night, somebody's late drama is going to stop halfway through an episode nobody will ever finish.

TVwithThinus has the full list, and Zee TV takes the headlines. Four more go with it. If your evening serial runs on SET Max (457), read this part twice, because SET Asia, Zee Cinema and WION are on the way out as well. Star Plus, Star Vijay and Colors TV stay. MultiChoice's reason: it is "focusing on fewer, stronger channels". Viewing habits got the blame. Not every viewer bought that. One subscriber quoted by TVwithThinus noticed that the North Indian Hindi channels took the hit while the mostly South Indian shows survived.

Nigeria looks a little different. On DStv Nigeria's channel page, SET Asia, Zee TV and SET Max sit on exactly the numbers South Africa is cutting, and "Indian Add On" shows in the package filter. Zee Cinema and WION don't appear on the Nigerian guide at all.

So the pack sold here was probably smaller to begin with. Three departures, not five, would show up on a Nigerian screen.

Every report so far is South African and quotes rand, and even MultiChoice's own statement only says the add-on "remains available in South Africa", which tells Nigerian viewers nothing either way. DStv Nigeria's homepage teases "a simplified package lineup" for November, with no details and no word about Indian channels. Because the channel numbers match, we'd expect the change to reach Nigeria too. Expect. Nobody here has confirmed it.

Zee TV is going, but Zee World on 166 is staying

Maybe your aunty has already forwarded a "Goodbye Zee TV" headline to the family WhatsApp group, with three crying faces and a voice note asking who will tell the neighbours. Tell her to relax.

Different channels. Zee TV is the Hindi one on 452, inside the paid Indian pack, while Zee World sits on 166 as part of the main bouquet, completely outside the add-on. Not one report on the cut mentions Zee World, in South Africa or anywhere else. Nor does DStv Nigeria's site.

Your bouquet still matters, though. DStv Nigeria's package page puts Zee World on Premium, Compact Plus and Compact. Confam and Yanga carry it too. Padi doesn't. A Padi home that wants it has to move up.

Next time the evening drama starts, look at the number in the corner of the screen, because anything in the 400s belongs to the add-on and is the part this cut touches. If it says 166, relax.

Will the DStv Indian add-on get cheaper, or will DStv refund you?

Nobody has said. South African subscribers will keep paying R280 a month for three channels where they used to get eight. TVwithThinus asked if that would change. MultiChoice didn't reply. A MyBroadband headline mentions a "reduced price offer coming soon", but the report itself gives no figure and no date, so there's nothing yet that anyone could plan a budget around.

From MultiChoice Nigeria, silence. Its guide doesn't show all eight channels. So we can't say how much thinner the Nigerian pack will get, and the safest working assumption is that ₦14,900 holds until someone in Lagos announces otherwise.

Depends on your house. A Star Plus household loses nothing, but a Zee TV household would be paying full price every month for a channel that no longer turns up on screen.

No refund or credit has been announced either. If you feel short-changed once the change lands, raise it with DStv first, through the MyDStv app or customer care, and tell them which channel you lost and when it went off. Ask about that month's fee. Write down the reference number. Should DStv fail to sort it out, take it to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). Complaints go in at complaints.fccpc.gov.ng or on its toll-free line, 08000002121. Quote the reference.

Some readers will look sideways at the Asian pack. The same catalogue lists a DStv Asian Add-on at ₦12,400, with ₦18.60 cashback. For Asian channels built into the bouquet itself, Compact + Asia and Premium-Asia are there too. Check their current prices in the app first.

You can pay for cable TV online on AidaPay, for your own decoder or a parent's.

So, renew or skip a month?

That depends on which channel keeps you up at night.

If Zee TV or SET Max was your whole reason for paying, skip a month. Yes, you'll miss a few weeks of drama. In exchange, MultiChoice Nigeria gets a few weeks to say whether a lower price is coming before you hand over ₦14,900 again, and you can buy the add-on back later. If you share the decoder with your parents, ask them which Indian channel they would miss before you cancel anything, because the person who watches SET Max every night will notice first. Ask today.

Star Plus and Colors TV fans? Keep paying. Each remaining channel will cost you more in real terms if the lineup shrinks and the price doesn't, but your shows are the ones MultiChoice chose to keep.

And if Zee World is all anyone in the house watches, the add-on was never doing anything for you. DStv bills it separately. Unless you're on Padi, renew your DStv subscription for the bouquet alone and leave the Indian pack off.

Before October runs out, open the MyDStv app and check your renewal date. If it lands on or after the 31st, hold off on the add-on until MultiChoice Nigeria posts its notice. We'll update this page when it does.

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Published 8 October 2026. Prices and codes change - if you spot one that has moved, tell us and we will fix it.