The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-west Zone, has given MultiChoice Nigeria, a seven-day ultimatum to reverse its planned hike on DSTV and GOTV subscription rates.
The student body said if Multichoice fails to yield to its demand it will be left with no other option but to lock up all offices of DSTV.
This is coming a few hours after Multichoice announced an upward review of prices on its DSTV and GOTV packages by 17% in text messages to its subscribers with effect from May 1, 2023.
This was made known on Tuesday by NAN in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Adejuwon Olatunji, Deputy Coordinator, Alao John, and Public Relations Officer, Opeoluwa Awoyinfa.
NANS which opposed the increase in subscription said the South African company was bringing hardship on, and extorting Nigerians, without considering their standard of living.
It also noted that tariffs should be charged on a “pay as you view” basis.
NANS calls for FG intervention
- NAN in its statement said, “Today, we are aware that MultiChoice Digital Satellite has increased its tariffs without considering the standard of living of Nigerians. We have also waited for long to see if this same company will dance to the music of Nigerians who have been clamouring for ‘pay-as-you-view’ tariff, but the reverse is the case.
- “This is the time to call on the National Broadcasting Commission to go back to the Commission’s act to regulate the ownership, activities and operations of Direct Broadcast Satellite Service Providers. DSTV is one of the leading direct-to-home service providers in Nigeria since its inception of operation from as far back as 1995 and has also made a lot of profit with over 25 million subscribers which is the largest market for its operations.
- “We want the Federal Government to stampede their proposed plan in tariffs increment and also force them to implement the pay-as-you-view system. We are aware that DSTV operates a system of pay-as-you-go tariffs in other countries.’’
It stated that Nigeria constitutes over 45% of DSTV’s global market share, and therefore called on the President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Communication to “break the sporting right of MultiChoice” and provide an alternative service provider in the country, so that “Nigerians can stop being exploited on a daily basis.”
- It stated, “We hereby give seven days ultimatum to MultiChoice Digital Satellite Television to reverse the plan of increasing the tariffs and also yield to the call of Nigerians by implementing pay-as-you-view tariffs, or else, we shall be left with no other option but to lock up all offices of DSTV until our demands are met which is the mind of all Nigerians.”
Nigerians react to the increase
Meanwhile, Nigerians have been reacting to the increase in DSTV and GOTV subscriptions by Multichoice with many of them critical of the action by the South African firm.
- A Twitter user Lola Okunrin in his tweet post said, ‘’Can we all just agree to boycott Multichoice and their products (DSTV and GOTV)? The increment in tariffs is getting too much. After every market day, they increase the price while showing the same movie over and over and over again till you know the next scene word for word. Can we?’’
- Another Twitter user, Daniel Regha, said, ‘’MultiChoice increasing their subscription rates makes no sense; Cos asides from news & sports channels, most stations on DStv plus GOtv are boring to watch. Old movies are often shown, while documentaries are always repeated. If anything, MultiChoice should be reducing prices.’’
- Onye Nkuzi in his tweet post said, ‘’I’m not getting value from my Dstv subscription. I pay 9,000 naira a month, and there’s no Bloomberg or CNBC. Now, this isn’t an argument for or against Dstv pricing – I’m just saying I don’t think it is good value for money. I’m not into football, so I can do without Dstv.’’
- Sultan Victor in his reaction said, ‘’So we all agree the only reason people still pay for Dstv is football, can’t one company get all the football channels and reduce prices so people just ditch Dstv?’’
- Qudus Akanbi Eleyi of Lagos said, ‘’DSTV with repeated contents of 100x in a month has increased their subscription again. I just hope the 10th Nass will find a solution to this madness.’’
However, a Twitter user, Brooda John, who seems to support the increase, feels that Multichoice had no choice but to effect the increase.
- He said, ‘’You can’t blame DSTV for price increases cos Nigerian terrain of doing business is not favorable to business owners, there’s no light and these people run on diesel which cost a fortune plus securities & logistics. They’ve to increase their subscription to be able to pay salaries.’’
