DSTV/GOTV PRICE ADJUSTMENTS: MATTERS NOT ARISING
About two years ago, pay-TV provider, MultiChoice Nigeria, announced, to hardly unexpected public disgust, a new price regime for its DStv and GOtv bouquets. Prior to that announcement, the company had not raised subscription in Nigeria for two years, yet Nigerians were apoplectic, a condition that eventually drew “sympathy” from the Federal House of Representatives, which came up with a salad of allegations distilled from public complaints against MultiChoice. In general, the public accused MultiChoice of operating a monopoly, which encourages it to price-gouge Nigerians.
Last weekend - two years after -MultiChoice, again, announced adjustments to its prices. The new prices, which take effect on May 1, will see subscribers on the premium bouquet paying N14,700 instead of N13,980 that they currently pay, while those on Compact Plus will pay N9,900 instead of the current N9,420. Compact subscribers will pay N6,300 instead of N6,000. For the Family bouquet, the new subscription is N3,800 as opposed to the current rate of N3,600, while that of the Access bouquet will be N1,900 instead of N1,800.
The House of Representatives has not joined in the discussion and there is no hint, so far, that it will. But the media, new and traditional, immediately erupted in rage, which will remain incandescent unless a few things are understood.
What has arisen in this state of anger is that subscribers, through years of conditioning, have come to see themselves as victims, a state of mind that inhibits proper assessment of situations. One of such gems of conditioning appeared in a newspaper report on the price adjustments. “The price hike is coming at a time most Nigerians are struggling to stay afloat, considering the economic recession characterised by the very high inflation rate that the country is currently experiencing,” wrote the newspaper, apparently inflected with a wish to induce Nigerians to self-pity.
Nigerians sure deserve pity for the near-eviscerating economic hardship. But what we have been blinded to by anger/self-pity is that MultiChoice has been hit the way we all have been, perhaps more, by the economic situation.
Before it adjusted prices in 2015 when the naira exchanged at N167 to a dollar, MultiChoice had absorbed costs on behalf of the subscriber for two years. It has done so, again, for another two years, during which the naira, passably imitating a bungee jumper, plunged. Shockingly.
Between 2015 and now, costs of goods and services have doubled, quadrupled in some cases, with sellers and providers blaming the development on the naira value and recession.
Their explanation is widely understood, but that of MultiChoice, which operates in the same economic environment is not. Nobody, including Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has remained unaffected by the recession. How we expect MultiChoice to be recession-proof eludes me. Cement prices have gone up, yet no protest against cement companies. Food items have soared, still expecting bonfires in front of food sellers. MultiChoice? Almighty hoopla.
What we ignore is that television economics is also affected by local and international economic developments. The sharp decline of the naira and the resultant inflation has compelled MultiChoice to make price adjustments, otherwise offer less quality or fold up completely. Much of the content found on MultiChoice’s DStv and GOtv platforms, including local content, is paid for in dollars, a major reason why Nollywood has retained its vibrancy. I, therefore, wonder how we are comfortable accepting that the strength of the dollar against the naira will have effect on other service providers, but leave MultiChoice untouched. Bizarre.