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By LEKAN BILESANMI
The recent announcement of widespread price increases on its DStv platform by the pay-TV service provider MultiChoice has caused predictably an uproar among its subscribers. In a message sent to its subscribers, the company said that as of August 1, subscription rates for all DStv bouquets will increase marginally.
When they will take effect, the subscription on its biggest package, DStv Premium, will grow from N14, 700 to N15, 800. Its Compact Plus customers, said the pay-TV company, will begin to pay N10, 650 instead of the current rate of N9, 900, while the rate for Compact, which currently costs N6, 500, will increase to N6, 800. The DStv and Access family, which currently costs N3, 800 and N1, 900, will cost, according to the new price regime, respectively N4, 000 and N2, 000.
GOtv also lowered the price of its highest package, GOtv MAX, from N3, 800 to N3, 200. But the reduction was drowned by the outcry that followed the upward revision of DStv prices, with subscribers returning with the customary claim that the company has, once again, raised prices because that 39, is a monopoly.
Angrier's subscribers relaunched the old allegation that the company deliberately raises prices in Nigeria even when it is not necessary and called on the government to force a reversal. This position, in particular, is based on the belief that Nigerians pay more for pay-TV services than citizens of other countries where MultiChoice operates. Some have stretched this badertion by claiming that pay-TV tariffs in Nigeria are the highest in the world.
Evidence, however, is declining to support the claims. Investigations revealed that MultiChoice has raised prices in all jurisdictions that it operates. According to the results, the new price regime will see DStv Premium subscribers in Ghana pay GHμ 365 (N27, 360.75) and those on Compact plus GHμ 245, the equivalent of N18, 365.44. Compact subscribers in the West African nation will pay 149 yuan (N11, 169.18), while those in the Family package (the lowest available in the country) will pay GHμ 85 (N6, 961.60).
In South Africa, the new DStv Premium rate is R809 (N21, 728.47) The Compact Plus will attract R509 (N13, 670), with a compact R385 (N10, 340.49) Prices Family and Access packages will rise to R249 (N6, 687.75) and R99 (N2, 656.98) respectively
A comparison of the monthly rates paid by subscribers in non-African countries also shows that the pay-TV ecosystem is the one in which the most convincing contents and services are not available. ] In the United Kingdom, Sky TV, the country's largest pay-TV operator, charges £ 79.95 (N38, 167.33) for its premium package and £ 47.50 (N22 572.97) for the one that is in below. The other three Sky TV packages cost £ 30 (N19, 008.82) and cost £ 30 (N14, 256.61), £ 25 (N11, 731.54) and £ 20 (N9, 504.41) respectively.
Sky TV's rates in Mexico, where it offers four packages, are in the same range. Its premium package costs 1039 MXN (N19, 798.52). The package just below attracts MXN 829 (N15, 796. 52), while the last two packages cost respectively MXN 649 (N12, 366.93) and MXN 569 (N10, 842.50).
The Australian Foxtel also charges similar rates monthly.
The cost of its entry-level package is the Australian dollar or AUD 26 (N6, 961.60). The one above costs 46 AUD (N12, 316. 67). Just above is a package that costs 55 AUD (N14, 726. 45). The high-end bouquet of the supplier attracts AUD 75 Australian.
The US operator, Direct TV, charges $ 35 (N12, 635) for its lowest price, Select. His slightly higher package, Entertainment, costs $ 40 (N14, 440), while the one above, Choice, is worth $ 45 (N16, 245). His Xtra package attracts $ 55 (N19, 855). The largest packages of Direct TV cost $ 110 (N38, 710) and $ 60 (N21, 660) respectively.
Surveys show that overall, pay-TV price increases are attracting heated debate, with the prevailing view being that operators operate ruthlessly. In most parts of the world, operators are raising prices every year, further inflaming subscriber anger.
According to its most recent report, the US Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau stated that pay-TV providers were adding additional charges. The industry ecosystem, according to the results, leaves the operators at the mercy of the content producers / television networks, the latter regularly loading more programming content, the first of which depends on viability. For years, pay-TV operators around the world have struggled, unsuccessfully, by increasing programming costs, which has eroded their margins. Content owners have also continued to claim that the higher fees paid by operators for broadcasting their content is largely the product of the leap in their own production costs of such content.
In particular, the cost of sports content TV property, continued to climb and very steep, too. Broadcasters have continued to shell out more money to retain rights to the content of sports leagues such as the English Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A and NBA), which fall into the unmissable programming category.
share of wages paid to sporting headliners from television revenues, for example, owners of sports content having to cope with an increase in their own costs and transferring them to pay television companies, which have no choice but to transfer a ratio According to some badysts' estimates, these costs have increased between eight and 10 percent in each of the last four years.
In some cases, badysts also said, the increase in subscription to pay TV. however, rates are also influenced – to a lesser extent – by a better consumer experience through the frequent addition of new features and functions to services.
According to consumerreports.org, most US pay TV operators have increased their prices. "The cable companies we contacted stated that the price increases are mainly due to the rising costs they face in transporting traditional broadcast networks, such as CBS and Fox, and regional sports channels," writes site
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