Nigerian Decoders Killing Ghana’s Film Industry- Sam George

Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, says the use of Nigerian DStv decoders in Ghana is killing the local movie industry and draining the economy.

According to him, there are plans to set up a multi-agency working group to deal with the long-standing problem of cross-border piracy of DStv decoders from Nigeria into Ghana.

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, September 29, 2025, the Minister said that the stakeholder committee tasked with reviewing DStv’s pricing and operations in Ghana had identified decoder piracy as a major challenge.

“The committee considered the issue of cross-border piracy of DStv decoders from Nigeria into Ghana, which has for years deprived the state of tax revenue, transferred jobs from Ghana to Nigeria, denied unsuspecting customers good customer service, and is actively working towards the decline of Ghanaian local content creation space,” the Minister explained.

To address this issue, the committee recommended forming a working group with representatives from the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana Domain Name Registry, the National IT Agency, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ghana Police Service, MultiChoice Africa, and MultiChoice Ghana.

Sam George further linked the problem of decoder piracy to the decline of the local movie industry. He blamed the reliance on “Nigerian DStv decoders” for draining money away from Ghana’s creative space while boosting Nigeria’s film industry.

The Minister stressed that MultiChoice has a duty to invest in local content with the revenue generated from Ghana. But, according to him, many Ghanaians prefer to buy Nigerian DStv decoders because of their lower costs, even though this hurts Ghana’s film sector.

“For every one Ghanaian contributing to the Ghanaian film or local content industry, five Ghanaians are contributing to the Nigerian industry,” he said.

He pointed out that this was one of the main reasons Ghana’s movie industry is struggling, while Nigeria’s Nollywood continues to grow. “So we are complaining that our Ghanaian movie industry or local content production is in decline. Our neighbours in Nigeria are seeing growth simply because for every one Ghanaian contributing to the Ghanaian film or local content industry, five Ghanaians are contributing to the Nigerian industry,” he explained.

The Minister also responded to discussions on GhanaWeb’s X Space about whether a shutdown of DStv services would affect Ghana’s movie industry. He framed the matter as one of national responsibility and urged Ghanaians to support their own creative sector.

“We want to fix our own country. It won’t be fixed by Nigerians, Kenyans, or South Africans. It will be fixed by us as Ghanaians. This government is a reset government. So let’s reset our Nigerian decoder boxes and reconnect the Ghanaian decoder boxes,” he said.

As part of the measures, Sam George announced that his Ministry, working with MultiChoice, will begin deactivating Nigerian decoders being used in Ghana. He also revealed that DStv subscribers in Ghana will soon enjoy between 33% and 50% more value in their subscription packages.

The Minister’s remarks highlight the government’s push to protect local content creators and revive Ghana’s struggling movie industry by tackling decoder piracy and encouraging Ghanaians to support homegrown entertainment.