₦airaland Forum

@urfriend

Thanks for the info.

@urfriend

As you may well know from my postings, I am not a HiTV Subsciber. Don't you think it wise to communicate information to your subscibers direct rather than use this forum. The reason is that I as a person would be scared to subscibe to Hitv because of all the hassles of having to rescan decoders all the time. The process also does not appear easy as subscibers ask each other what to do in this forum. Did you not give the subscibers a manual on what to do when you sold them the decoders? You also come handy advising subscibers to visit dealers and agents to rescan decoders!!!!! Why all the hassles? Then there is the frequent complaint of poor signals, no audio on some channels, etc. Did you rush to the market berfore prefecting technical matters all because of football?

@sology

Thanks for the info. I never knew there was a difference between the two channels. It means Dstv changed from Discovery World to the Discovery channel when they started showing the Crime and Invesstigation channel.

@soloqy

"There is a new strong decoder now that has slots for two cards.

so you can use two different providers without having to remove and insert all the time and its cheap."


Can I have more information on this decoder. Who is marketing this type of decoder?

@soloqy

Yes I am not based in Nigeria but I subscibe to DSTV for my family in Nigeria and I also subscibe to DSTV where I am. I thought Daar Sat would be promising and wanted to make a switch for my family. However with all I am reading, it might not be a good idea. It is the reason I have been visiting their website to check their channel programmes. However with no information available I can't switch from a familiar territory to one I don't know. So I am staying with DSTV.


@SATMAN

It appears Shamass77 is on AWOL just like Daar Sat website. One hopes that when he resurfaces, he will clarify some issues. I wonder why cable tv stations are always in the habit of deceiving people. I remember very well that when Trend Tv and some other cable TV stations came into existence a couple of years back, they came out with fanciful posters listing several channels they would be showing. People rushed to buy their decoder and dish. At the end of the day, they did not show 50% of the channels listed in their posters. Some if not all of this cable companies have now collapsed. Why would Daar Sat advertise 50 channels and show 39 channels? I am sure those that rushed to buy their decoder and dish for N40,000 were relying on the false information they were given. In an advanced country they would have been sued.

One cannot rely on the programming displayed on the web address you gave. This is the current programming in the country of origin of the owners of the channels. Dar Sat cannot afford to buy current editions. What they will air will be old editions of certain programmes. They may not even air for example FBI files as Dstv does not show this programme on their Discovery World Channel. They moved it to their Crime Investigation channel. This is the reason why I would like to see their programme schedule just like Hitv displays on their own website. In addition, one would need a list of their 39 channels to make an informed choice.

@mreds

The 50 channels Daar Sat claims to offer are listed on their webpage under "Download". However I was unable to access it today. However having a list is not sufficient. I would like to know the programme content of some of their channels like Discovery World and Fox Crime. With some contradiction from some bloggers as to how many channels they are actually showing not advertising, Shamass77 should be able to help us with this piece of information. Is it 38 or 48 channels? Does the 38 or 48 channels include all the local channels and 8 music channels advertised?

@urfriend

Sorry about the last posting. Thought you were referring to Daar Sat. I am aware of what Hitv offers but they need to do more.

@urfriend

I visited the website last week and I have a printed copy of the so-called 50 channels. Satman claims there are 38 channels while Shamass77 tells us there are 48 channels. I want him to list the 48 channels. Today when I visited Daar Sat's website to do a double-check on the channels, it was not possible to do so. What is Daar Sat up to?

@SATMAN

I agree with you that the website of Daar Sat is nothing to write home about. You can imagine how many prospective subscibers must have visited their website with no relevant information available to them that would enable them make an informed choice about subscribing to their cable company. If the price of their decoder and dish have fallen to N18,000 as Shamass77 claims, I expect this vital piece of information to be posted to their website.

I am waiting for Shamass77 to give us an idea of the 48 channels they claim to have. If it is 38 channels as you said, one needs to re-assess what type of channels these are. I hope they do not include all the local channels like NTA, Channels, MBI  and the about 8 music channels they are promoting. Because this then means they may have only about 25 or less solid channels. However if it is true that they are offering their dish for 18,000 and have 48 channels as Shamass77 claims then they may increase their subsciber base at the expensde of Hitv. If they are also able to secure football rights then Hitv may run into problems.

@urfriend

That's O.K. As long as Hitv realizes that they have to grow their subsciber base to avoid the pitfalls of GTV, then they will be O.K. At the moment, I can't subscibe to HITV because I am not a football person. I basically watch news, documentary and reality programmes. For example, HiTv has only one documentary channel - Discovery World. Also there is no Al Jazeera news channel to balance what BBC and Fox News is showing. Hitv will need to cater for other segments of the society if they are to attract more people. Dstv does this very well, only that they have the notion that Nigerians are there to be ripped off.

@SATMAN

Let's wait for Shamass77 response because it would appear it is Daar Sat that might soon have problems and not Hitv.

@soloqy

I think some of my comments on Daar Sat are misplaced. I visited the web address you gave in your posting and I have posed a series of questions to Shamass 77 and sought some clarifications.

@const6

Is it really important if a programme is broadcast in HD, MPEG 4. What I thought mattered are clear and sharp pictures which don't go off when it rains.

Shamass 77

I am really disappointed at your posting. To think I have been defending Daar Sat when I am not even a subsciber is highly misplaced. I was trying to be objective but some of my comments on another thread with hindsight are inappropriate. On one hand you ask Satman if indeed he saw 35 (he claimed 38 not 35) channels. Then your posting becomes ridiculous when you ask him on what type of decoder he watched the channels. I thought Daar Sat advertised 50 channels for a subsciption fee of N5,500 and also there was a lot of noise about new technology decoder!!!!! Does the number of channels you get to see depend on the type of decoder that you buy? Lord have mercy!!!!!!!!!!

You continue by telling Satman that you see 48 channels. Kindly list those channels because I am very interested in knowing. Then kindly explain why two channels should be showing black and white on such a high technology equipment after all the noise made.

If the decoder and dish is now N18, 000, it shows the poor feasibility studies that was carried out. First you ought to have known that the market for cable tv in Nigeria is not large and DSTV is in firm control. While DSTV were sleeping and snoring Hitv dealt them a fatal blow which they are now trying to recover from. Business sense should have dictated that you define your market first. You would have needed people like me to jump the DSTV ship. Now you don't have CNN and live football. In addition your technical-know how is questionable with all your high technology stuff. I am not a great fan of DSTV but I am getting great and good service with good channels , clear and sharp pictures except when it rains and the techniocal know-how to fix technical problems when they arise is not in doubt at all. Kindly educate me on why myself and other DSTV subscibers should leave DSTV for Daar Sat. Secondly tell me why football crazy Nigerians should leave HITV for Dar Sat. Good business sense should have told you that you ought to have offered the decoder and dish at an affordable price. You actually make your money from subscibtions. You have to grow yor subsciber base and you could have easily done that from the good programme content you have while waiting to bid for football rights. You appear to have alientated a lot of people due to the high price of your decoder in times of recession.

As Satman ( I think) also mentioned, your website is very poor. I have been checking your website since last year and there is no addition or relevant information. Even a search using the Google search engine throws up old and outdated stories about Daar Sat. Check out the website of Hitv or Dstv and try and improve.

You list 50 channels on your website. I want to know the type of programmes shown on these channels. For example , you tell me you have Fox Crime and Discovery Channels. What type of programmes are shown on these channels? This type of information is very vital when one has to make an informed decision as to whether it is worth subscribing to Daar Sat. You do not expect a subsciber to go from known (DSTV OR/AND HITV) to unknown (Daar Sat).

Kindly do not attempt to dance around the information and clarifications I sought. Just hit the nail on the head. Thanks.

@SATMAN

Your bias towards Daar Sat is obvious. As I mentioned previously, I don't subscibe to them but I like to be objective. Having watched Daar Sat at a friend's place with your mind already made up before you even watched, at least I expected your assessment to include:

- What the quality of the programmes on the 38 channels were like, not what they were using to transmit. Were the 38 channels good channels? I want to watch good quality programmes. What is my business about how the programme is transmitted into my home. What was the quality of the pictures like, this is important. McNeal in his posting tells us that "the videeo/pix quality on HITV is appalling". How did you find that of Daar Sat? If it rained while at your friend's place , did the signals dissappear? While I have no evidence to contradict your observation that Daar Sat has 38 not 50 channels as claimed, you have to take note that not all channels broadcast for 24 hours. Some channels might not have been broadcasting when you were around. For example, Rhema channel on DSTV only broadcasts Sundays in the morning. Some channels on Dstv start broadcasting from 6pm etc. Dstv still counts all these as channels. So be clear about the transmission times of the channels before you arrive at the conclusion that they have only 38 channels.

@Soloqy

It stands to reason that if no one was viewing Daar Sat since its launch, they will have crashed by now. Except you are not being true to yourself, all it takes to knock Hitv out of business is to outbid them to acquire all the football matches. Dstv is in the process of doing this by introducing a new channel, I think S3 which now shows live foootball matches. If representatives of Dar Sat are boasting of knocking HiTv out of business, they know what they are saying. All they need do now is to acquire football rights and CNN and they are home and dry. On the other hand Hitv still needs to acquire a lot of good quality programmes that Dstv and Daar Sat already have and broaden their subscibers base to remain "alive" in the next two years. They have 22 and a half channels according to you and yet they are introducing another bouquet for N1900. To show what? This is a sign of panic. DSTV and Daar Sat are already breathing down HITV's neck. Watch. It is only a question of time before Hitv runs into trouble. It can't survive on wishful thinking that it would always win the bids to air football matches. What happens when the football season is over?

@bamizo1
@soloqy

I have never suggested merger between Daar Sat and Hitv in any of my postings but cooperation. Cooperation in the sense that all the Pay Tv stations can put in just one bid for all the football matches. This has two advantages. The owners of the football channels don't rip them off by having two bids - 100% and 70% live matches. Such bids don't happen in other countries. This is happening in Nigeria because of the initial greed of DSTV to include anything football in their N9300 bouquet which was not affordable to an average Nigerian. HiTv saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. This is dangerous for HITV because GTV made the same mistake and crahed. Dstv moved in and acquired the 70% football rights of GTV and all their subscibers!!!!

I took time in one of my previous postings to explain why it will be shortsighted for Hitv to rely on football alone because biddings for footballl matches take place from time to time. In the next "war" to acquire football rights the other two providers have the capability to deal Hitv a severe blow because they have a much stronger base than Hitv, that is why I suggested cooperation not merger.

Soloqy, I can see that you are not a great fan of Daar Sat. I have no connection to Daar Sat, I subscibe to DSTV. However what you have to understand is that a cable company cannot come to the market for everyone. This is why they draw up business proposals. In the USA there are hundreds of cable companies and people make their choice. The way I see it, Daar Sat came to the market to target a particular audience - the upper and the upper-middle class. Hence, they introduced new technology decoders, which is an improvement on what DSTV has. With DSTV, when it rains, you lose signals and yet I paid N40, 000 for my decoder and dish when I acquired it. We have better technology now at N40, 000. What I have a problem with is not the price of the decoder and dish but whether proper research was done by Daar Sat as to whether they can get the DSTV subscibers to jump ship as well as attract new subscibers from the audience they are targeting. In effect, what I am trying to put across to you is that they have a target audience. Daar Sat came to the market to compete with DSTV and not to focus on football. Hitv came to offer football at a cheap price. Not so cheap, but an average Nigerian can't afford N9300 for DSTV to watch football. All Dstv has to do is offer what they offer here in South Africa for R199 (about N4000) - which includes live football matches of all manner and Hitv will crash. The reason being that apart from the live football matches, DSTV also have other fanastic channels that HiTv can only dream of having. All DSTV has to do in Nigeria is do away with their concept of wanting to reap Nigerians off and offer Nigerians the same service they offer in South Africa.

If Hitv is to give you more channels , then you have to pay more than N4000. All it takes for Hitv to crash is to knock the stool from underneath them in terms of football. A deadly combination of DSTV and Daar Sat have the capability of doing this. They will push Hitv to overbid for 100% live matches, they will not be able to cope with their 200, 000 subscibers. On the other hand any short term losses incurred by Dstv can be cushioned with the massive profits they make in South Africa, Nigeria and other countries where they operate while Daar Sat has Ray power/AIT to fall back on. What Hitv subscibers fail to understand is that when bidding for football matches comes around next time, Daar Sat and DSTV are not going to fold their arms and watch, they will match Hitv bid for bid.

@ilugunboy

I agree with you on some of your submissions on Daar Sat. They stand to make their money from attracting subscribers. The cost of their decoder and dish is quite expensive. How is one even sure that they have the technical know-how to fix any problems that may arise from acquiring the latest technology. However, I have checked the programme content for both Dstv and Daar SAT and the subscibtion fee they are charging is reasonable. One also needs to take into consideration that they may add more channels in the near future and it does not make good business sense to increase their subsciption rate each time they add a new channel.

The reason I suggested some form of cooperation between Daar Sat and Hitv is because of the main reason that led to the collapse of GTV. In order for Gtv to acquire EPL and other football leagues, Gtv bid over 600% more than the company that owned the rights the year preceeding when they decided to bid. The result was that they were unable to cope as they had only 100 000 subscribers. Hitv has to be careful so that it does not fall into the same trap. For that to happen, they have to cooperate with DSTV and Daar Sat that can afford to overbid and remain stable.

@soloqy

I read your posting. However it appears you have not been able to critically analyse both HITV and Daar Sat. From my analysis (I have no connection to both service providers), both are serving different markets. It is the reason that DSTV has three different bouquets to choose from depending on your pocket. It is reasonable to assume that the N9300 bouquet is for the upper-class, the N4300 for the middle-class and the N2500 for the low-class (no offence intended!!).

The way I see Daar Sat, they came in to compete with DSTV by offering what DSTV offers at a lower price. They decided to offer just one bouquet at a standard price. They introduced a lot of local content too. They have the resources to do this considering they sourced for funds from the capital market and they also have other business outfits like AIT/Raypower to fall back on. Their decoders are expensive because they decided to acquire the latest technology - that is to be expected. I checked what they were offering with DSTV, and they are not doing badly in terms of content. I am sure they will be working hard to secure CNN and live EPL and other football matches.

In the case of HITV, I see their business plan as opportunistic , which is not sustainable in the long term. They will go the way of GTV. Their research revealed to them that Nigerians are die-hard football fans and would do anything to watch any type of football. Even if it were possible for 1 year olds to play football, Nigerians would watch. DSTV were greedy and eager to rip Nigerians off until Nweke (I think former Information Minister) stepped in. One had to cough out over N9000 to watch any form of football. Many of my colleagues were doing this. Then HITV stepped in and started offering mostly football for N4000. There was nothing to write home about concerning their other channels. They made sure that they over-charged subscribers rather than list their company in the Nigerian Stock Exchange so that they would have the funds to outbid Dstv anytime they have to bid. But it is not going to work. I will explain later. You asked for more channels. If you want all the channels you listed, which Daar Sat and Dstv already offer, then you must be willing to pay more for subsciptions. HITV will have to buy the channels you are asking for and they don't come cheap.

It would be better for HITV and Daar SAT to have a working relationship concerning bids for football otherwise both companies will run HITV out of town. I foresee Dstv winning back (they must have woken up from their slumber) the rights for airing 100% EPL Matches and Daar Sat winning the rights for 70% EPL matches. Daar SAT would most likely work with DSTV if Hitv refuses.

My advice to Hitv is to learn from the way DSTV dealt with its competitors in South Africa. Their market was deregulated but up till now none of their competitors has then able to operate. Instead some became content providers for DSTV. It is funny, but this is what money can do. Infact if DSTV were to offer the R199 (about N4000) bouquet which is offered here in South Africa and which I subscibe to, there will be no HITV. By the time DSTV and Daar Sat squeeze Hitv, they (HITV) will overbid for the football matches, they will not be able too offer their services again for N4000 and they will crash like GTV. Their best bet is to rethink their business strategy which focus solely on football. It is sustainable in the short term but not sustainable in the middle to long term. Chikena!!!!

I wonder why the officials of HITV use this medium to pass instructions to their subscribers. Is there no better and efficient way of doing this? This is suppose to be a discussion forum.

@SATMAN

As a Nigerian, I wish HITV well. But they have allowed the perception to take root that all they are good for is only in the area of football. That is risky because DSTV and Daar Sat have the capability of running HITV out of town. They need to do more and quickly too.

@SATMAN

All the leagues you listed are subject to bidding at one stage or the other. Where does that leave HITV. I am sure you know that DSTV and Daar Sat are not sleeping. They both have the resources to challenge HITV when bidding for football matches. HITV should try and branch out. It is risky business depending solely on its ability to win competitive bids for football matches only. For a subsciption fee of N4000 per month, they ought to be offering more than they are currently doing. They can also borrow a leaf from Daar Sat and head for the capital market to raise funds.

@Allboyz

Thanks for the info.

@Allboyz

Your reply is noted. We can both agree that HiTv is all about football. Some of the current postings inform us that DSTV has acquired the rights for La Liga and the 2010 World cup. Where does that leave HiTv? You will agree with me that HiTv is as guilty as DSTV. How can they charge N4000 subscription just because Nigers are eager to watch football matches. Most of their other channels are crap and cannot be compared to the DSTV's N4300 bouquet. Once DSTV or Daar Sat acquires the football matches, they will go the way of GTV. What is your opinion about Daar Sat? Do they have over 50 channels as they claim?

@ All boyz

" There is more  to HiTv than just football" - Quote from Allboyz

Well, I disagree with you. Hitv according to them have 200, 000 subscibers. You will agree with me that football is the main attraction. Most of the other channels they carry are crap. But for the greediness and lack of foresight by DSTV, there would be no HiTV. HiTV came to fill the void created by the rip-off DSTV unleashed on Nigerians with the active cooperation of Nigerians in authority that allowed them.

I am based in South Africa. In the Compact Bouquet which goes for R199 (about N4000 at the exchange rate of N20 to 1 Rand), all the premiership matches can be seen live on Channel SS3. The bouquet also includes several good channels that viewers that pay N4300 in Nigeria don't have access to except they pay N9000. If DSTV did not have the notion that Nigerians are there to be ripped off and offered Nigerians the same channels offered here for R199 INCLUDING THE DISH MAGAZINE WHICH IS DELIVERED TO EACH SUBSCRIBER PROMPTLY, HiTv would never have sprung up. One can only hope that Daar Sat can square up to DSTV on the long term.

I am new to this forum and I have taken time to read the bloggers comments. I can see that there are many HITV addicts. However, I fear for HITV. This is the reason why I feel that HITV and Daar Sat should be in talks right now. They don't have to merge but there should be cooperation between the two organisations or they may be swept away by DSTV. No doubt DSTV has been boxed into a corner by the new arrivals due to greediness.

HITV may go the way of GTV. Why? HITV focusses a lot on football. When the new set of biddings comes around, DSTV has the resources to run them out of town. Then what happens to them? They must be in talks right away with Daar Sat so that both of them can put in a joint bid for all football games. Although I cannot subscibe to Hitv because I am basically a News and Documentary person, as a Nigerian, I wish them well. With no CNN, AL Jazeera and other well known documentary channels, HITV is not my choice. However I am a patriotic Nigerian and want to move from DSTV to Daar Sat. Could the bloggers kindly let me know what they think of the new cable outfit, Daar Sat? My own take is that the cost of the dish is too high. They have a lot of channels although they don't have live football and CNN. I wonder if moving from DSTV to Daar Sat is wise? Your contributions would be most appreciated.

Not everybody is interested in Football. Hi Tv should try and increase their content. I can't subscibe to them because they don't have CNN And Al Jazeera channels. They should also do more in the area of Documentary channels. What will happen to them if they are outbidded on all the football channels they have - EPL, UEFA CHAMPIONSHIP, ETC. It is a shame though because DSTV is a rip-off and really need stiff competitors. I wonder how Daar Sat fits nto the equation.