Cable TV service customers should pay as they go
For over five years, consumers of the sports and entertainment programmes of MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd’s Digital Satellite Television (DStv) have been calling for introduction of pay as you go (PAYG) model and other changes capable of providing value for the money they spend for cable television service.
The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) also lent support to consumers by urging MultiChoice to consider the following steps, to assuage their complaints: implementation of PAYG option; compensation to customers for loss of transmission arising from lost signals; and prompt resolution of subscribers’ complaints.
Times without number, MultiChoice has been positive in its response to CPC’s echo of customers’ demands: “We are committed to delivering world-class service to our customers and proud to say we are the first video entertainment company to implement new subscriber initiatives requested by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC). Over the past year, we have worked closely with the CPC to identify our customers’ areas of need and made a commitment towards implementing solutions that will resonate with our customers and lead to improved service.”
But the closest steps taken by MultiChoice to address its customers’ concerns and recommendations of CPC include increasing the number of hours for customer relations; providing toll-free telephone numbers for customers to call; and allowing customers to suspend their service for 7-14 days twice a year. Customers are required to give notice to the company 48 hours before travel. Such notice of intention to travel further exposes the privacy of customers, especially in a country where unethical workers sell data about customers’ cash withdrawal from their bank accounts.
Installing PAYG system will protect customers’ privacy, as all customers need to do is to shut down their system when they need to do so. In addition, allowing customers to request for suspension of their subscription for total of 14 days twice a year does not respond to the need of those whose livelihood requires that they travel more often than twice a year nor to those who need to travel for more than 14 days at a time.
Even when it is clear that technology is available for provision of PAYG system, executives of MultiChoice continue to claim that there are no such systems anywhere in the world: “Pay as you go is not a TV model. It is a communication model because you can start and stop the conversation. But if you are watching an EPL game and you stop at the 30th minute, what do you do? Do you pay for the game or do you not? So, you see, it is not a TV content model.”
Ironically, many countries are now enjoying the PAYG model in East and West Africa. KweseTV in Ghana, Rwanda, Zambia currently have access to sports and entertainment programmes on both subscription and pay as you go models. Those who opt for PAYG have options to demand a package of 3-7 days and have the benefit of watching such programmes on television, mobile, or online. Similarly, AzuriTV, now available in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi, provides access to over 150 channels on the Zuku Satellite Platform with an investment of about $400 million.
Nigerians are not new to being denied services available in other countries on the excuse of problems of technology. Until Globacom joined the group of telecommunication providers in the country, other companies before it insisted that it was not possible to have per-second billing. Of course, such companies acquired technology for per-second billing as soon as Globacom blazed the trail.
We urge CPC and customers to insist that PAYG model be provided by MultiChoice Nigeria and indeed other cable television service providers. If Ghana and Uganda can have or buy such technology, Nigeria should be able to do so, many times faster and easier, given the huge size of the Nigerian market. More fundamentally, expecting reliable value for money in a monopolistic business context, such as MultiChoice enjoys at present, is at best wishful thinking. Cable television should not be left in the hands of just one provider. The country is large enough to accommodate many cable television companies, just as we have for telecommunication companies.
