The Nigerian Senate has on Wednesday passed a motion directing all pay television subscribers to revert to pay-per-view system instead of the monthly subscription. ayokinews.com reports
The motion which was sponsored by Senator Abba Moro, lawmaker representing Benue South Senatorial District, bemoaned the pay-TV providers’ constant hikes in the prices of their various bouquets, which he termed “exploitative”.
Highlighting the price hike, Senator Abba Moro said: “Note that the leading pay-tv service provider in Nigeria, (MultiChoice Nigeria) informed all DStv compact subscribers on August 22, 2020, to expect a 13.3% price increase to N7,900 commencing from September 1, 2020 while the subscription fee for DStv compact plus was increased by 9.5% from N10,925 to N12,000, and Premium was increased from N16,200 to N18,400 indicating a 13.6% hike.”
Senator Moro, raised his concerns about the new hike in subscription prices, which he claimed was done without consideration of the economic hardship being faced by the subscribers.
MultiChoice hikes prices of GOtv, DStv packages, cites inflation
He reminded the upper legislative chamber that Nigerians had vehemently rejected the new price hike by MultiChoice, indicating that parliamentary intervention was required.
According to him, there was no justification that warrant the hike in subscription prices, given the fact that pay-tv services are subscription-based television services, which are often delivered via both analogue, digital cable and satellite TVs.
Going forward, the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, as well as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), were asked to probe the frequent subscription price hike by pay-TV providers.
Check Also: The revolution of Pay TV business in Nigeria
