Multichoice Nigeria, a subsidiary of South Africa-based Multichoice Africa, owners of DSTV pay television, has been known to dominate the Nigerian satellite television market. This position of course came by arm twisting and bullying out other competitors who had the interest of the Nigerian consumers at heart, putting DSTV in a position as a luxury brand that could not be afforded by many Nigerians.
In the past few years, DSTV has constantly been in the news with one legal battle after another from aggrieved subscribers, who are dissatisfied with the programming services and unreasonable subscription hikes across their various bouquet. Uberseun Akinfolarin, an aggrieved DSTV subscriber who started an online petition on change.org against DSTV’s exploitation said, “It's time to end the exploitation of Nigerians by DSTV. Nigerians deserve respect from DSTV and we will get it.” Other concerned Nigerians followed suit in the demand to stop DSTV’s arbitrary price hikes, noting that recent increase in DSTV subscription is outrageous and totally unacceptable. Chiebuka Obumselu, another aggrieved subscriber said, “I'm signing this petition because I think Multichoice is exploiting the Nigerian citizenry and also because I think we should be offered a pay-as-you-go service. I also believe there should be a standard set of about 25 channels and then an opportunity to choose other channels for the lower bouquets.” Following the high number of complaints, the Consumer Protection Council, CPC, has commenced investigation into the operations of the Digital Satellite Television,
DSTV, operated by Multichoice Nigeria Limited, over alleged consumer rights violations, in line with its mandate to provide redress for consumer abuse. In a statement by its Director General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, said that there are lots of complaints from consumers alleging wide-range abuse of subscribers’ rights. Another disgruntled customer had this to say about DSTV’S disrespect for consumers. “What I however can’t understand is why I need to listen into an ad that lasts up to 40seconds whenever I put a call through to customer service. Once you put the call through, a male voice responds on the other line informing you of the several online platforms where your subscriptions can be paid. This surely is a free ad at the expense of the caller (customer).”
According to the notice of investigation, CPC said “These complaints in effect allege that the DSTV service does not conform with international best practice and is specifically designed to exploit Nigerian consumers who have suffered loss by not being able to fully enjoy or receive the benefit or actualize the full purpose for which they purchased or subscribed to the service.” Olamide Shadeko, a banker says, “DSTV in Nigeria is a luxury product, I have had the opportunity to live in South Africa, DSTV is not as expensive over there as compared to what it is in Nigeria. You may recall that the decoder itself is not the source of income but the monthly subscription. I understand that the cost of doing business in Nigeria is very high but DSTV is not investing extra in satellite television in receiving countries like Nigeria, so my question is why can’t a common man afford it?” The council pointed out that the consumer complaints against DSTV include “poor quality of service such as incessant disruption of service without compensation while subscription is current, wrongful abrupt disconnection of service during subsisting subscriptions, monthly subscriptions lasting less than 30 days and poor redress mechanism and customer services. Advertisements on customer care lines at the expense of consumers, poor implementation of decoder swap policy and effecting price increase for subscriptions despite payment before due date of increase.” Gboyega Falode, a corper, said, “DSTV is hardly found in homes of common masses. Take for example, the cheapest package they offer is the DSTV Access, which is between 1,500 and 1,800, trust me, 70 percent of the channels are not worth watching.
To enjoy DSTV you need to go for at least the Compact package which cost over 9,000 and that’s an impossible amount to pay at the end of every month for an average Nigerian who earns a minimum wage.” “The Council’s action is in line with the focus and commitment of its current administration to engage in sectorial interventions to address the myriad of problems facing Nigerian consumers with a view to getting a saner market-place in the country.” A call that was put through to Multichoice's office on the allegations was not answered.
