Price Hike: Senate demands pay-per-view from PayTV operators

The Senate on Wednesday demanded that the Federal Government direct all PayTV operators in the country to introduce pay-per-view subscription model.

Senator Abba Moro, who brought the matter to the floor of the red chamber, said that Nigerians were outraged by the recent hike in subscriptions introduced by Multichoice, owners of DSTV and GOTV.

Moro said, “MultiChoice Nigeria willfully and perpetually increases the cost of its bundles because there is no regulation whatsoever. Without recourse to the economic situation of the country, MultiChoice has again raised the cost of
#DStvNg and #GOtvNg bundles.”

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan in his submission said, “What #DStvNg is doing here, they can’t do it in many countries but here they do it & get away with it. So we need to have a public hearing. Our ad-hoc committee should be given the mandate to do a whole scale investigation.”

After deliberations, the Senate resolved to “Urge the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and the Nigerian Communications Commission to direct all pay-tv providers to introduce a pay-per-view model of subscription against the month to month prepaid model presently in place;

“Direct all pay-tv service providers in Nigeria to immediately review their bouquet prices downwards in tandem with the prevailing reality of economic situation in the country; and establish an ad-hoc committee to further investigate this incessant increase in fees by #DStvNg in this country with a view to finding a lasting solution to it.”