MULTICHOICE NEEDS COMPETITION IN NIGERIA 

As a Nigerian who has been less than satisfied with South Africa’s MultiChoice’s business ethics, I am tempted to feel some schadenfreude for its dwindling fortunes due to loss of subscribers. The company’s subscriber base in Nigeria is dwindling seriously. For long, MultiChoice has taken its DStv subscribers, especially those in Nigeria, for granted. And it does not care a damn so long as it continues to cash in.

MultiChoice’s portrayal of a bold façade as a “local champion” (as we say in Nigeria) in its industry belies its jitters when there is a hint of facing competition. Yet, it continues to baffle me how no Nigerian investor has been able to challenge MultiChoice with a world-class pay TV. While we continue to hope for the day when such an individual will emerge to save Nigerians from MultiChoice, we can only watch as it continues to enjoy unfettered access to the Nigerian market. But what do Nigerians get in return? An increase in the price of its subscription with often implausible justification. The Nigerian situation is so pathetic because Nigerians live where there is no regular power supply. So if you have paid for a month, it is your business if you do not have light. The other alternative is to use generators, aka “on the gen”, where you burn money. Nigerians have cried for pay-per-view to counteract this, but MultiChoice has continued to give excuses why it is not possible. Even their service is not fantastic. When it rains, forget watching anything. As you also literally “watch” your money “flow” away with the rain. You then wonder what their research and development department is doing.

It has been said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” The chickens have come home to roost. Customers are now voting with their feet. Unfortunately for the organisation, what was a blessing to it is now a curse. A large chunk of its subscriber base, which also translates to its main revenue location, is in Nigeria, where they are more worried about feeding their stomachs than feeding their eyes. Even when some Nigerians dare to think of their “darling” DStv, they have school fees, house rent, hospital bills, transportation and the rest of them glaring menacingly at them. And if the Nigerian economy is anything to go by, borrowing the words from the book of a former president where MultiChoice is from, then it has a “long walk to freedom”.

Dr Cosmas Odoemena,

Lagos