Big Groans over DSTV’s Unsatisfactory Tariff

For all it is worth, Pay TV is luxury. But the price of DSTV, the Pay TV service operated by Multichoice, a South African company in Nigeria has become too high for the value received from it.

DSTV’s tariff in Nigeria is exploitative and discriminatory unlike what obtains in their home country, South Africa.

Agreed that Pay TV operators face a number of significant cost hurdles including content acquisition, content/service delivery, subscriber acquisition, and customer support, it is however not enough to justify the arbitrary increases in tariff by DSTV in Nigeria.

That is why we welcome the advice by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) that Multichoice Nigeria Limited should introduce pay-as-you-go subscription for its subscribers.

This would allow consumers get value for their money, give them an option of choice as well as enable them control their consumption.

The operator’s argument that it did not have the platforms to implement pay-as-you-go system of payment is unacceptable.

CPC and indeed National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) the apex regulatory body of broadcasting in Nigeria should go beyond mere platitude and compel DSTV to implement pay-as-you-go system.

Pay-as-you-go system is best for Nigeria where power supply is notoriously unreliable, meaning that if subscribers do not have public power supply for days, they would not be billed.

Apart from implementing the Pay-as-you-go system, Multichoice should be made to pay some form of compensation to subscribers for loss of transmission signals, usually experienced by them during adverse weather conditions, particularly rainy season, known as “rain fade”.