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The Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS) have urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to end Multichoice Nigeria’s monopoly of the Pay Television market, following a 25 percent upward price review by the company which takes effect from May 1, 2024.
The Multichoice price hike which comes four months after the last increment across the board, has also attracted the attention of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which has proposed that relevant stakeholders would examine the recent price hike in MultiChoice cable subscriptions.
This according to the FCCPC’s acting CEO, Adamu Abdullahi, is to ensure that Nigerian customers receive value for their money.
The National President, ATCIS, Mr Sina Bilesanmi, while reacting to the new DSTV and GOtv tariff hike, equally noted that government needed to level the playing field for other companies looking to enter the Cable TV market.
He argued that Nigeria needed new international investors, who would be willing to bring in ‘Pay-Per-View’ options to end MuItichoice monopoly.
As an association, we have tried to have several dialogues and collaborations with Multichoice to voice our concerns over the ongoing increase in pay TV subscription fees, but to no avail,” Bilesanmi said, stressing that Nigerians were being exploited by Multichoice and its other colleagues in the PayTV market,” he said.
According to Abdullahi, “The fact that they have stuck to only monthly prepaid subscription model against people’s will says it all. This is not a Nigerian company so they are not supposed to have power over us, the government needs to do something to stop MuItichoice from extorting Nigerians.
“If MuItichoice refuses to listen to us this time around, we will have to campaign and convince Nigerians to stop subscribing to their services.
“The sad truth is that they keep increasing tariff but giving us repetitive programmes to watch, there is nothing new on DSTV and GOtv,” he said.
