THE NIGERIAN CABLE TV

That Nigerian cable tv subscribers are frustrated and disgusted with the poor quality of service they receive from pay tv providers is an understatement.

The largest cable tv provider DSTV,  which is operated by Multichoice Nigeria Ltd, had it’s offices raided by the Consumer Protection Council  (CPC), The body set up and mandated by the Federal Government to provide redress for aggrieved and dissatisfied Nigerian customers. The CPC stated that it  raided the Multichoice offices to forestall any obstruction of an ongoing investigation into the operations of Digital Satellite Television DSTV by the council. CPC further stated that it had received a barrage of complaints from DSTV customers alleging a wide array of customer service abuses.

The Council said it had initiated a dialogue with Multichoice over these infractions to find a way towards resolving these issues, but was unable to obtain maximum cooperation from the pay tv company hence it “s resolve to raiding the Multichoice office to obtain relevant information from the company.

This will not come as a surprise to watchers of the actions of the cable service provider, as it’s actions over the years have belied it”s monopoly of the industry in Nigeria, with none of the relevant regulatory agencies been able to call it to order, as poor supervision as held sway in the industry.

Multichoice Nigeria Limited has been operating in the Nigerian market in partnership with Multichoice Africa, a South African company since 1994. Ever since it’s inception it has remained the dominant player in the pay tv market business in Nigeria. As a result of this monopoly  price distortions and poor quality service has become the order of the day, in the absence of a viable opposition it does not have incentives to provide the highest quality of service obtainable in the global market. Nigerians are widely travelled people , who often are exposed to the disparity in the hundreds of channels , that are available outside it’s shores.

DSTV’s recent price hike in it’s subscription fees, had a lot of customers up in arms, there was a barrage of criticism in the social media and people felt the action was not justified, in relation to the service they are receiving from the company.

 Two Lagos based lawyers instituted  a law suit against the company in a Federal High Court, which gave a restraining order to DSTV to stay all actions pending the determination of the lawsuit. DSTV nonetheless went ahead with the price hike. Although The judge later on dismissed the suit brought by the lawyers against DSTV citing that the court did not have the  power to regulate the prices of services provided by DSTV, the matter highlighted the fact that the Nigerian customers are at the mercy of the pay tv company, as they do not have  robust viable competitors in the market.

It is outrageous that for nearly two decades that the company has operated in the Nigerian market, the range of content available to it’s customers is at best minimal, Nigerians still do not have access to cable channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, HBO, CHANNEL 4, and other popular channels across the globe.

The content provided by the company does not justify the cost, a lot of the tv shows and movies it provides to it’s customers are outdated and off air seasons. A number of customers complain about outages caused by weather disruptions, which sometimes knock the signals out for hours if not days in some cases. Some times  there are signal outages caused by technical problems, and the customer is at the mercy of unreliable technicians , and in the interim  where the customer is not receiving any service  the subscription is running

Sometimes the subscription is disconnected while the subscription is still valid, and getting it turned back on is a hassle. Transfer of service from one state to another in the event that a customer changes location is not possible , as the customer will be required to purchase a new decoder.  The content provided by the pay tv company is usually bombarded by commercials and it’s quite distracting and more often than not plain annoying.

DSTV should be mandated by the regulatory agency, The Nigerian Broadcasting Agency not to turn off the national tv channels when a customers subscription elapses. AS things stand currently if a customer travels out of town , there is no way to put the subscription in hold. Currently customers can walk into the DSTV dealers to renew their subscriptions  or renew it online via an electronic payment platform. There is a need to provide a third option , where scratch cards are provided and customers can easily buy this from participating stores, as where customers are unable to meet up with the dealers on weekends, they are faced with  long boring days.

DSTV should also look at a way of providing customers with  bundles with special interests such as religious families who are concerned with exposing their kids to shows with explicit materials such as violence and sexually inappropriate content. Rather than requiring them to block these channels as they are made to pay for channels which they will not watch. The GOTV which is a low budget bouquet designed for lower income households is still pricey as the channel selection is not encouraging.

DSTV should look into improving it’s customer service platform, as it’s call centre is not often up and running to deal with customer complaints, there are long wait periods and often customers experience dropped calls. It’s customer service assistants need to be trained to handle customers with respect and patience and treat the complaints in a timely manner. It also needs to train it’s technicians with current skills to resolve  customer  complaints. It also needs to invest in the latest technology to upgrade it’s  facilities to provide  high quality and reliable services.

There is a need for the regulators to open the market and review any laws that stifle competition among pay tv operators, as lack of competition means that companies like DSTV have an upper hand and will not feel the pressure to provide optimum service to millions of it’s  Nigerian customers. They should engage their customers and fashion creative platforms aimed at resolving customer complaints as ultimately happy customers would lead to a better and stronger company.

The National Assembly needs to set up a committee to investigate the activities of DSTV so as to get to the bottom of these issues  with the aim of reviewing the laws so as to provide a level playing field for all participants in the industry.