Multichoice Nigeria, a popular Pay TV provider, has proceeded with the upward adjustment of its prices for DStv and GOtv subscribers, despite a recent court ruling prohibiting the company from raising rates.

On April 24, the company announced that it would increase its price for its DStv and GOtv cable services, beginning from the first of May.

Meanwhile, a competition and consumer protection tribunal (CCPT) in Abuja ruled that the firm should not increase its prices as scheduled for May 1.

A three-member tribunal led by Saratu Shafii gave the interim order following an ex-parte motion moved by Ejiro Awaritoma, counsel to Festus Onifade, the applicant.

Despite the court ruling, a check by Nairametrics revealed that the firm has proceeded with the tariff increase as earlier proposed.

On its official website, the new prices are now being displayed and implemented.

For DStv Premium subscribers, the price has moved from N29,500 to N37,000. Also, the price for Compact Plus has also soared from 19,800 to 25,000.

Compact rate has moved from N12,500 to 15,700 while Confam and Yanga subscribers will now pay N9,300 and N5,100 respectively from their previous rates of N7,400 and N4,200.

Similarly, GOtv subscribers will pay the new tariff increase as the prices have also changed on their official websites.

The elite subscribers (Supa+ and Supa) will now pay N15,700 and N9,600 respectively as against the previous rates of N12,500 and N7,600 before.

In addition, the Max and Jolli subscribers are now expected to pay N7,200 and N4,850 respectively. The former rates were N5,700 and N3,950.

On average, Multichoice increased the prices by 25%.

Reason for price hike
According to the Acting Chairman of the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Adamu Abdullahi, Multichoice wrote a four-page letter to the commission explaining the reason behind the upward price review.

In the letter, Abdullahi stated that the company identified issues such as foreign exchange crunch, high electricity tariff and cost of running generators as some of the reasons why the rates were reviewed.

“We got a four-page letter from Multichoice, telling us the reason that led to this price increase.

“At a glance, we saw things like the cost of electricity, running generators, the cost of dollars for spare parts and so on. We’ll go through these items individually and find out how they have affected their operations,” Abdullahi said.

FCCPC to probe price hike
Speaking further, he said the commission would review the reasons identified by Multichoice, noting that the agency could involve regulatory bodies such as the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the process.

According to Abdullahi, the commission will not hesitate to sanction the firm if it discovers that their prices are arbitrary or it is in any way manipulating the market.

“What we need to do is to bring in NCC and maybe NBC and Multichoice, sit down and look at all these variables that they claim caused the rise in prices.

“By and large, that’s the claim of what they are doing because they are a dominant player in this market. People have no choice but to go to them for cable television, so that’s why they are doing what they are doing.

“If by any chance we find out or we can confirm that that’s what they are doing, again we go back to the law and do what we are supposed to do,” the acting chairman of FCCPC added.

Backstory
Earlier, Nairemetrics had reported that Multichoice Nigeria, a Pay-TV operator, announced a price increase for its DStv and GOtv packages by at least 25%.

This marks the third increment since last year, following the initial adjustment implemented on May 1, 2023.

Multichoice stated that the latest increase will take effect from Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

While last year’s increment ranged between 19% and 20% depending on the bouquet, the company is now announcing a 25% to 26% increase across its packages.

The new subscription fees were communicated to customers via an email titled “Price Adjustment on DStv and GOtv Packages” on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

https://nairametrics.com/2024/05/01/multichoice-ignores-court-order-proceeds-with-dstv-gotv-rate-hikes/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3PzkQ5sqeibee-UVvoJesy0MHJpRfh5EgQe8kWYnfO7LA0IC13-kzAog8_aem_Ad4VlVIu7kgPyUPWljOQp4n05MSjxTyalt5tUXn9MjfXxHNoqN79A02Inp0ktcVOytxetyjPFYvR6lpHHwT8jK_k
Previous Thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/8071896/multichoice-hikes-subscription-prices-dstv#129612332

Nigeria is not a serious country. Weak institutions everywhere because of lack of visionary leaders.

What were you expecting before?
Do the people in government themselves obey the court orders? Do the court officials respect themselves?
What do you expect when a so called leader pews out disgusting global embarassing lies in the name of attracting investors.

The embarassment this government of criminality is causing for Nigerians globally is sickening , disgusting and irritating.
If the leaders are pathological liars and criminals, how do we expect foreigners to see us?
How on earth in this jet technological age does a leader lie courageously to its citizens ?

$600 million maserk deal- scam
Deal with Indian- scam
Deal with saudi- scam
Qatar deal- scam
Refinery this and that- scam
Fuel subsidy- scam
Student loan- scam.

Tinubu is a global disaster, a global embarassment and a curse to the land of Nigeria.

Nigeria's policies ruining businesses.

When you turn yourself to rag, people will use u to clean rubbish . What do you expect when people that will implement any sanctions against them will secretly go and collect their 'share" from them and won't be able to fully and justly carry out any punishment again, just like how the MTN fine was muddled up

Thank you Multichoice for standing your ground because Nigeria 🇳🇬 has no law talk more of court





A lawless country it is, with everyone being their own govt. Doing things anyhow it pleases...

Na see finish cause am. Who go obey court orders wey they themselves no respect rule of law abi how dem dey talk am

Lawless county abi na zoo self...

Why won't they ignore?
Do your politicians, law makers and the likes respect the court in Nigeria before?

I want to sell my DSTV decoder

Hope multi choice will give me back my money if I return my DSTV

the multi choice no just get sense .why tell Nigerians say you want to hike price .hike your price they go .this is the time of price hiking.the criminal started the hiking of price from his first day in office.fuel that we are buying 160-200 during buhari the criminal hike it to 800.pure water from #10 to #50

.

They are a foreign company and they have to repatriate their funds. Their prices are reviewed with FX rate in mind because FX is what they remit to their headquarters. They also pay for TV rights in FX too.

I am sure you guys are seeing how almost every company is posting huge loses because of our useless currency. How can multichoice afford to pay millions of dollars to EPL and UCL if they are collecting worthless naira.

A stable economy births steady prices. If naira was stable, then the government should hold no reservation in dealing with them. For now, the government has no moral justification to tell them what to do.

The business is also open to anyone who can afford TV right money. The person can invest, charge Nigerians lower and chase multichoice out. As a matter of fact, anyone who can offer pay as you watch has already chased multichoice out of our country.

Nigeria still get court?
The Nigerian Judiciary missed the golden opportunity to entrench respect for the rule of law in 2023....as long as you have jagua Nana as CJN and his fellow clowns, no one will take the courts serious.

What do you expect?
Do your politicians, lawmakers and the likes respect the rule of law and the courts in Nigeria?
So na dog 🐕 eat dog 🐕 matter be this.
At the end of the day, nothing dey happen.

Imagine

Insult of the highest order

We don't have court in Nigeria. What we have are criminals putting on wings

Very good

Court order should first stop electricity hike for multi choice and also mandate their staff to never request salary raise then we can talk about court order on increase of their subscription fee

Buy android box, hook it up to your tv. Even old plasma
Subscribe real debrid. to get premium links
get good unlimited internet connection. preferably fiber
stream away your sorry.

If you have one or two fav show on dstv, subscribe showmax na 2900/mo. Showmax also get football package.


You see these leaders, na 365 days premium multichoice dey give them to keep quiet.


Fake android box plenty for market, shine ya eye. Mecool is a great brand

References1:

https://nairametrics.com/2024/05/01/multichoice-ignores-court-order-proceeds-with-dstv-gotv-rate-hikes/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3PzkQ5sqeibee-UVvoJesy0MHJpRfh5EgQe8kWYnfO7LA0IC13-kzAog8_aem_Ad4VlVIu7kgPyUPWljOQp4n05MSjxTyalt5tUXn9MjfXxHNoqN79A02Inp0ktcVOytxetyjPFYvR6lpHHwT8jK_k
Previous Thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/8071896/multichoice-hikes-subscription-prices-dstv#129612332

No paddy for jungle. Hypocrisy Hypocrisy, why not blame your government and Nigerians for not producing Nigeria own pay TV. What happened to HiTV? If Subairu has been so effective, will DSTV be here?

Na eye service FG dey do

NO choice really

Nigeria is not earning enough dollars, so cost of dollars sourcing has gone up. Yes, a good reason most Nigerians voted against APC In 2023 was because they promised diversification and did not deliver. Too bad opposition failed our hand.

But for now, there is nothing that can be done. Multichoice has to pay for tv rights, especially the rights for laliga and EPL , the rights for many of your fave american series, etc, that most of you love. And more naira is needed to get one dollar. So prices go up.

Ye can pay up, or switch to Startimes. Startimes has the same offerings, except for EPL. If you want to watch man u vs arsenal, go to a viewing center, and pay for the thing.

You can imagine the height of it.

I wonder why a court would restrain MultiChoice, the choice of adjusting the prices for it's different subscription packages. The naira having lost half its value has skyrocketed every basic commodity and consequently running cost.

Should MultiChoice keep operating at a loss as a private business entity, when the courts could not halt the increase in fuel price, a basic commodity that controls the flares of inflation.

The services offered by MultiChoice are not a Do or Die. If you can't afford them, watch free to air Gospel channels or better still open your tv set, insert your kids and watch them play.

Lovely ..

Tinubu dey play .

You cannot suffocate an economy and think people wouldn't look for a way to breathe

This government did not even hide its callous nature to the masses. Tell me one benefit the masses have benefited from this wicked people since Tinubu has taken over. Where are the masses that flooded the streets few years ago. I wonder is people like Wole Soyinka are deaf and dumb now. Well, we are all in it together.

I said it,even the last hike,they ignored court order.They know Nigeria is a kangaroo state where any thing goes.I started using Dstv full bouquet since 2005 that's how premium increased to N35,000,I kept paying until God delivered me from the Zoo called Nigeria.

More suffering.

References1:

https://nairametrics.com/2024/05/01/multichoice-ignores-court-order-proceeds-with-dstv-gotv-rate-hikes/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3PzkQ5sqeibee-UVvoJesy0MHJpRfh5EgQe8kWYnfO7LA0IC13-kzAog8_aem_Ad4VlVIu7kgPyUPWljOQp4n05MSjxTyalt5tUXn9MjfXxHNoqN79A02Inp0ktcVOytxetyjPFYvR6lpHHwT8jK_k
Previous Thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/8071896/multichoice-hikes-subscription-prices-dstv#129612332

I like Multi Choice if you nor like the increment switch to Startimes or any other ones.

No shaking