The Nigerian Senate have asked Multichoice Nigeria, the parent company of DSTV and GOTV to review the current price of their monthly subscription.
Last week, Multichoice increased their subscription prices by 14 percent. This caused an uproar among the general public given the current state of the economy.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has constituted a seven-man committee to probe the tariff hike introduced by the pay-tv service providers.
This follows the adoption of a motion by Benue South Senator, Abba Moro. The Senator explained that Nigerians are being short-changed over Pay-TV tariff hikes, and recommended a Pay-Per-View subscription model. He added that MultiChoice Nigeria perpetually increases the cost of its bundles “because there is no regulation whatsoever in the area of fixing rates”.
The motion was titled, “Nigerians Dumbfounded, Outraged over Pay-Tv Tariff Hikes, Demand for Pay-Per-View Subscription Model”.
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The Upper Chamber has directed all pay-tv service providers to as a matter of urgency, review their bouquet prices downwards in tandem with the prevailing reality of the economic situation in Nigeria. The Senate has also urged the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and the Nigerian Communications Commission to direct all pay-tv providers to introduce a pay-per-view model of subscription as against the month to month prepaid model presently in place.
A pay-per-view model means subscribers would only pay for the channels they watch unlike the current model which presents a preset bouquet for customers.
