SPEECH DELIVERED BY ViKI LIU DURING A MEDIA ROUNDTABLE TO ANNOUNCE StarTimes CONTENT UPGRADE AND PRICE ADJUSTMENT

Good morning gentlemen of the press.
Thank you to each and every one of you for making-out time to join this meeting. We are very pleased to meet you. We should actually all be dining-out now but for the pandemic which restricts us to our abode.
You have all been called upon due to a mutual passion to bring quality and affordable digital- TV to every home. Your support has helped us to build better brand understanding and acceptance. We call upon you to reignite this union again, which has been dormant for a while, and ask for continuous support towards our brand, especially in favourable news mentions.
StarTimes, a relatively young player in the Nigerian pay-TV industry, has been at the forefront of providing affordable quality entertainment for Nigerian families since it came into the market about 10 years ago. StarTimes pioneered digital-TV inclusion which was indeed, previously a luxury and the preserve of the rich, thereby bringing access to those that were excluded from enjoying the beauty of pay-TV.
StarTimes championed and remains the only Nigerian pay-TV company that offers a flexible subscription method (day/week/month) to suit the needs of our subscribers. We have always aimed at affordable service that will enable our subscribers to enjoy digital life.
The brand has invested billions of naira in providing thousands of direct jobs and opportunities to various partners (dealer network, local channels, production companies) in the country in less than 10 years. We bring value to everyone.
Over the last couple of months, StarTimes has been adding new channels, great local and international channels for the viewing pleasure of our teeming subscribers without an additional charge. These channels, including other existing flagship channels and content, were acquired at a cost which StarTimes has continued to bear to cushion the economic pressure on subscribers.
We have added the following channels to the StarTimes content offering: Toonami, Ceebies, ST School Junior, ST School Senior, Human Right, Dunamis, Love Nature, Smithsonian, Colors TV, Sky News, Tiwa n Tiwa, Filmbox and more. We also brought back FOX, FOX LIFE, NGC E, NGW E, ESPN, ESPN 2 and BABY TV. Shortly, DreamWorks Channel showing blockbuster movies will be introduced to the delight of our subscribers.
For sports lovers, StarTimes offers a variety of international football tournaments for the entertainment of our teeming subscribers. Some of the football tournaments aired on our platform include:
- Europa League which will be resuming in August
- FA Cup semi-finals and final which will take place in the months of July and August
- Bundesliga
- Coppa Italia
- Copa Del Rey
Through ESPN, we also broadcast The English Football League Championship (EFL), Major League Soccer (MLS), Belgian Pro League, Netherlands Eredivisie; Basketball tourneys – NBA and The EuroLeague. Plans are also currently on to add to this list and we are confident that in no time we shall be announcing the inclusion of one of the most sought after international football leagues on the StarTimes platform.
We are not known for incessant price increase. Rather, StarTimes’ subscription prices had on different occasions been reduced in order to make digital TV affordable for every Nigerian. For instance, in September 2017, we scrapped our Unique Bouquet (N3800) from our DTT subscription packages and crashed its major channels into Classic Bouquet whilst reducing Classic Bouquet price from 2600 to 2400. In 2018, Classic Bouquet was further reduced from N2400 to N1900.
Earlier in the year (2020), the Federal Government increased the rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5% to 7.5%. This increase did have an effect on our cost but in consideration of our customers’ plight, we have continued to bear that extra cost.
More recent is the impact of the foreign exchange rate; our business is not exempted from the effect of the naira depreciation affecting all businesses in the country. All of our foreign content is bought in dollars and to continually serve our subscribers the best content, the subscription price has to be reviewed upwards. Dollar was about N360 in 2017; today, it’s above N450 in the parallel market. Unfortunately, certain external factors are beyond our control; we are forced to adjust to realities before us.
With effect from August 1, For DTT (antenna) users: Basic bouquet subscribers will now pay N1,700 as against N1300 monthly to enjoy close to 80 exciting channels; Classic Bouquet subscribers will pay N2,500 as against N1,900 monthly to keep enjoying close to 100 channels. While Nova bouquet remains unchanged at N900 with over 43 exciting channels.
For DTH (Dish) users: Smart bouquet subscribers will pay N2,200 as against N1,900 monthly; Super Bouquet subscribers will pay N4,200 as against N3,800 monthly. While Nova bouquet remains unchanged at N900. DTH has close to 200 exciting channels.
The price increase is not peculiar to the Nigerian market. The increase has been effected in a couple of other African countries since the first quarter of this year. The new pricing took effect in Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar from March 1st, while It took effect in Rwanda and Zambia on June 1st 2020.
Aside from the newly added content ensuring increased value-for-money for our subscribers, another sigh of relief is the pay-as-you-go concept, borrowed from the telecoms sector and widely clamoured by pay-television consumers. Recently, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed was quoted in the media to have said that, “The pay-as-you-go model is achievable in Nigeria, not just achievable, a pay TV provider, StarTimes already offers it”. Thanks to the Minister for reminding Nigerians that they can enjoy digital TV services on the go on StarTimes through our flexible subscription options – daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, allowing Nigerians to subscribe according to their needs and means. Consumer’s interests are duly taken care of with these flexible subscription options which give them access to pay for what they watch as low as N90 daily.
Pay-per-view and pay-as-you-go billing systems are reasonable for people who do not spend reasonable time watching television after subscription.
Since 2008 when StarTimes started operation in African market, the company has been sparing no effort to realise its ambitious mission: "To ensure that every African family can access, afford, watch and share the beauty of digital TV".
Because of StarTimes, the price of pay-TV has been greatly lowered, from an average $50 per month to 3 or 5 dollars per month. And to date, this is StarTimes greatest achievement: make digital TV affordable for all families.
Because StarTimes believes in the equality of information; no matter rich or poor, people have equal rights to learn about the outside world through television and enjoy the beauty of digital TV.
That is also the purpose of the China-Africa cooperation project “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” that has been undertaken by StarTimes. In Nigeria, 1,000 villages were equipped with projectors, TVs and satellite TV decoders allowing all villagers, especially kids, to enjoy the wonderful digital TV programs.
We assure our subscribers that as a business, we will continue to make it our priority to broaden our content offering to meet a variety of their interests without compromising affordability. Despite the price adjustment, we shall continue to delight our subscribers with MORE VALUE at the BEST PRICE in the Pay-TV market.

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