THE SENATE AND MULTICHOICE
Business entities should not be forced into an uncompetitive price fixing
Due to constant upward price adjustments by MultiChoice, the House of Representations almost heckled the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) into effecting a pay-as-you-go model in the pay TV sector in 2020. The recent inauguration of a seven-member ad-hoc committee by the Senate to investigate the same pay television company over announced increase in subscription fees across all bouquets for its DStv and GOtv services is therefore consistent with attempts over the years to cut the service provider to size. Already, Senate has directed the company to revert to the old tariffs and adopt a ‘pay-per-view’ model that will allow full enjoyment of its services in view of Nigeria’s epileptic power supply situation.
Although we do not believe that the Senate should usurp regulatory powers, the anger expressed by the lawmakers who obviously rely on the services of MultiChoice is understandable. But MultiChoice, like every other company in Nigeria, is not operating in a vacuum. The prevailing grim economic conditions have impacted businesses negatively and have compelled many of them to adjust prices. It is the same economic conditions that made airlines operating in the country to hike their fares that is affecting MultiChoice and every other business. Even in the United States, United Kingdom and other western countries, bills for consumer cable and satellite TV are on the rise due to increase in programming acquisition costs.
Besides Multichoice, (operators of DStv and GOtv which arguably controls the largest chunk of the market), the pay Tv segment of the broadcast industry has other players like Startimes, DaarSat, ConSaat, Kwese TV and TSTV. They have their own challenges. Already, exchange rate instability, policy inconsistency, poor electricity, dearth of infrastructure as well as regulatory and security issues have combined to make the Nigerian business climate unfriendly. Therefore, care must be taken not to scare away the few remaining businesses from our shores.
While the National Assembly should continue to actively monitor, oversight all sectors of the economy and intervene where necessary, especially where regulators falter, it is imperative that its actions be guided by the overall national interest. We understand that for a long time, many Nigerians have been clamouring for the pay Tv providers to migrate to pay per view module as against the mandatory monthly subscription. The message from the Senate is that service providers in Nigeria should begin to consider that transition in the interest of their consumers.
However, the pay-per-view model of subscription against the month-to-month prepaid model presently in place which the Senate and indeed many Nigerians demand does not come cheap. Indeed, it is an add-on feature that enables a viewer to separately pay to watch individual events via private telecast. This means the subscriber pays for each individual show in addition to what is paid for pay television packages. Last year, the House of Representatives announced that it was working on a pay-per-view bill, which would end “indiscriminate price increase” by pay television operators. The House apparently ran into a brick wall as the move was abandoned.
We agree that Nigerians are currently experiencing unprecedented hardship and suffering. They deserve the sturdiest protection they can get against what seems like a steady descent into penury, as they face the sharpest decrease in their standard of living. There is therefore no doubt that the current price hike by MultiChoice will further add to their pains. But the way to tackle the problem is not to muscle business entities into an uncompetitive price fixing model that ignores current economic realities. Authorities in Nigeria should concentrate their efforts on how to revamp the economy.
