Early this morning I woke up to see a text message from DSTV, I thought it was their usual message informing subscribers of new programmes but alas what I saw almost totally ruined my day
A sample of the message sent to DStv Premium subscribers’ decoders: “Dear Customer, due to rising costs of business operations, please note that from May 1, your monthly subscription (Premium) will be N24,500. To retain your old price of N21,000 for up to 12 months ensure you are active by April 30.”
The new regime will also see the price on the Compact+ bouquet move to N16,600 from N14, 250 monthly. Subscribers on the Compact bouquet will, under the new price regime, pay N10,500 as against N9,000, with those on Confam set to pay N6,200 as against N5,300. Those on DStv Yanga and Padi will pay N3,500 and N2,500 respectively as against N2,950 and N2,150.
On the GOtv service, subscribers on GOtv Supa package will pay N6,400 as against N5,500, with those on GOtv Max paying N4,850 as against N4,150. GOtv Jolli subscribers are due to start paying N3,300 as against N2,800, with the tariffs on GOtv Jinja and GOtv Lite also rising from N1,900 to N2,250 and N900 to N1,100 respectively.
To cushion the effect of the price review, MultiChoice Nigeria, as usual, has made a price lock offer to subscribers, who renew their subscriptions before their due dates. The offer allows customers to pay the old rates for 12 months if they pay monthly before the expiration of their subscriptions. Similarly, it grants subscribers, who pay for one year at a go, before the new prices kick in, the opportunity to pay the old tariffs.
My immediate reaction was to down grade my dstv bouquets immediately the current subscription lapses
I have two different dstv decoders at home and I have been managing my payments monthly because ( I am not a lover of dual view )
Who is thinking of paying for an increase subscription at this Buhari/ Emefiele era i asked myself
To me that was being incentive on the part of dstv, haba kilode
But on a second thought , I asked myself some pertinent questions , what in Nigeria has not experienced a price increase in the past one year
A loaf of bread that costs about N500 last year is now between N1000-N1,200 , same with staple food like rice , beans , yam , even our own pure water , all have hit the roof
You may call DSTV a luxury product but I am aware that even Startimes increased its subscription recently too
The new prices, which took effect on 14 April, will see StarTimes Basic bouquet customers on DTT (antenna) pay N2, 100 monthly, as against the previous sum of N1,850, while customers on its Classic bouquet will pay N3,100 monthly as against the previous N2,750 tariff. The price of the Nova bouquet also went up from N900 to N1,200.
The company’s subscribers using DTH (Dish) are similarly affected, with the tariff on the Smart bouquet rising to N2, 800 per month from N2,600, while the Super bouquet will now attract a monthly tariff of N5,300 as opposed to N4,900. The Nova bouquet has its tariff raised to N1,200 from N900.
StarTimes explained that the price review had to be made because of suffocating economic conditions, to which it had to respond to ensure it is able to continue providing the level of service to which its subscribers are accustomed.
The gsm companies have in the past months increased their call tariffs and data cost , abi una no dey notice how data dey finish immediately after you’ve recharged
Petrol is on the rise , Diesel is now N1000 per litre
Discos now increase the cost of electricity monthly despite giving us perpetual darkness
The airlines are finding it difficult to cope, a one hour trip has jumped from under N50,000 to almost N100,000 ( an increase of almost 100% ) within one year
And we have a government that is not only insensitive but totally disconnected from the people
Many companies in Nigeria are at the point of total collapse or have folded up entirely
It is suicidal for anyone to run a business in Nigeria these days
Where are all the other Companies that went into Pay TV in Nigeria like DSTV , they have all folded up
We may blame DSTV for its monopoly when it comes to contents, but have they stopped other companies from buying same elsewhere
A Nigerian company once got the license to broadcast Premiership at a time , where is the company today , it folded up within one year
Every company is out to make profit
In as much as I will not justify a monthly increase in price as being done in other sectors but let us also look at the hostile environment these companies operate
If we can have just stable electricity like we have in South Africa, Ghana and other countries our ease of doing business will be enhanced
I’ll not blame dstv, we should be blaming our Government that have practically crippled all businesses due to its lack of vision and terrible economic policies
Let them also create an enabling environment for other companies to come into the sector, who knows , a healthy competition as we have it in the telecom sector may also bring down these costs
Which company will survive in Nigeria generating power for its use 90% of the times
I’ve not spoken about multiple taxation o or even the rising rate of the Naira to the dollar
This has led to several companies closing shops and relocating to other African countries
While I urge DSTV to look at the request for pay as you watch as being advocated by Nigerians, but I still think these have been taken care by its flexible bouquets because with as little as 3,000 monthly you can watch DSTV
It has even gone further to create a more pocket friendly platform called Gotv , which goes for as little as N1,500 monthly subscription
For me I’ll start cutting my coat according to my cloth not my size
It shall be well with Nigeria 🇳🇬
Chris Kehinde Nwandu is a Journalist, Law Graduate and UK Certified Arbitrator
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