A consumer pressure group, the Association of Television, CableTV & Internet Subscribers of Nigeria, ATCIS, has flagged off a campaign to boycott cable Tv company, Multichoice by calling subscribers across the country to refuse subscription or renewal of their decoders until the DSTV Company drops the recent increment on all its service bouquets.
The increment, according to Multichoice is to take effect today, May 1, 2024. The pay-TV firm cited the rise in the cost of business operations as the rationale behind the price increase.
However, ATCIS says the reason was not tenable this time around since the same company increased its tariff few months ago, citing same reasons.
President of the association, Mr Sina Bilesanmi, who spoke to Brandxposure.ng on the issue said though Multichoice had contacted the association and demanded for 48 hours delay of the action, his members have resolved to go ahead because the Cable Tv firm have been known to use same strategy to buy time and at the end of the day went ahead to do exactly what it intended to do.
Bilesanmi said his members have been positioned on all DSTV offices across the country to monitor progress of the boycott. He also revealed that a high powered technical team had been put in place to monitor compliance from those who subscribe to Multichoice’s DSTV services online.
He said: “This is not about the association, it is about the over 120 million Nigerians who are being fleeced regularly by service providers like Multichoice. We are saying that enough is enough. Nigerians should be respected and considered, especially considering the huge revenues they generate for these service providers. Constant increments, such as Multichoice is known to do, does not show respect” he added.
Bilesanmi said leaders of the association had planned a massive protest against the increment but after seeking audience with top police leaders in Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan, decided to shelve it for now. He however said the protest could still happen if the boycott strategy did not yield maximum result.
The Multichoice price increment has divided opinion among industry players with some favouring it due to high cost of production due to various economic factors, while some others believe Multichoice could still remain profitable without such incessant increments.
For instance, two media professionals who spoke on the issue on condition of anonymity, were on opposite divides.
While one said: “The insinuation that the back-to-back increase by DSTV were necessitated by the currency exchange problem we had is a subterfuge. We know that that at a point, our exchange rate rose to N1900 per dollar. But is has come down to between N1200 and N1400 per dollar at the moment, has this reflected in their pricing?
“Again, it is not also justifiable to give the impression that because they increased the welfare package of their staff due to the increasing prices of food stuffs, they have the right to increase their prices. If that is their consideration, by how much did they increase their staff welfare or salary package to express their understanding that things are now expensive in the market?
“Now, South Africa is not immune to the global economic crisis, how often have they increased prices of their bouquets in South Africa?
“For me, I think they are just exploiting the porous nature of the Nigerian market, weak regulatory system, and trying to associate with the greed and corruption in the system’.
Another contributor, however said: “I do not wish to condemn those who see exploitation or profiteering from the recent DSTV increment by Multichoice, but we need to agree on something. Multichoice is a symptom of the disease, not the disease itself. And once again, DSTV is not a necessity. We can just jump and pass.
“There are far too many essential things to complain about than the pricing of satellite television. We heard the authorities announce one hot afternoon two weeks ago that a new tariff regime had been approved for the so called Band A on PHCN. Unlike what used to happen in the past, it was implemented immediately. We were shocked that Egbeda where I stay was placed into Band A and our tariff immediately quadrupled.
“If Egbeda where a lot of low income people and pensioners reside, is in Band A, what Band would Banana Island, Parkview, Lekki Phase 1 or VGC be on? N1000 now buys you just approximately 4 kw/h at Egbeda and some of us have spent 30K on electricity in just this past two weeks. By what definition are the residents of Egbeda among the one percent of Nigerians that the authorities said could afford electricity at N225 per unit? Where do the other 99 percent reside?
“In this condition, you can only just imagine what businesses would be spending on electricity. But where is the outrage? I was at the bank two weeks ago and the manager complained bitterly about a certain new charge on each customer that was placed on them by the government. There is no doubt that they would look for a way to pass it on to customers.
It is astonishing that the only thing that jolted Nigerians and made them freak out was the increase in pricing of satellite television which is by no means an essential commodity by any stretch of the word.
“This is not saying Nigerians shouldn’t complain about the excesses of any service provider but the level and coordination of this revolt all over the social media space in the last 72 hours, given the situation of every other thing, is startling”.
Meanwhile, a competition and consumer protection tribunal (CCPT) in Abuja had yesterday stopped Multi-Choice Nigeria Limited from implementing its tariff increment and cost of products and services scheduled to begins today, May 1, 2024
