Last week’s announcement of price adjustments by pay TV operator, MultiChoice, has unsurprisingly provoked disaffection among its subscribers. The company, in a text message sent to its customers, announced that with effect from 1 August, subscription rates for the five bouquets on its DStv platform will go up. Its highest bouquet, DStv Premium, will rise from N14, 700 to N15, 800. Compact Plus will go from N9, 900 to N10, 650, while Compact, which currently costs N6, 500, rises to N6, 800. Its two lowest packages, Family and Access, which currently cost N3, 800 and N1, 900, will henceforth cost N4, 000 and N2, 000 respectively.
The company, however, slashed the price of the highest package on its GOtv platform, GOtv MAX, from N3, 800 to N3, 200. This, however, has gone almost unnoticed, following the disaffection trailing the price adjustments on DStv bouquets, particularly the three highest ones.
As with every price increase, subscribers have accused the company of deliberately hiking prices because it enjoys a monopoly. Some particularly angry ones claimed that Nigerians are specifically made targets of price increases more than the company’s subscribers in other countries. In addition, they claimed that pay TV services in Nigeria are the most expensive in the world.
Investigations, however, show that this claim is anything but true. MultiChoice prices were increased continent-wide. When the new price regime takes effect, DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa, for example, will pay R809 (N21, 728.47, while Compact Plus subscribers will pay R509, the equivalent of N13, 670. For Compact, customers in South Africa will pay R385 (N10, 340.49), with prices for the Family and Access bouquets rising to R249 (N6, 687.75) and R99 (N2, 656.98) respectively.
DStv Premium subscribers in Ghana will pay GHµ 365 (N27, 360.75), while those on Compact Plus will pay GHµ 245, the equivalent of N18, 365.44. The Compact bouquet in the West African country will attract GHµ 149, the equivalent of N11, 169.18. Subscribers on the Family bouquet will pay GHµ 85 (N6, 961.60).
Contrary to the prevalent view, Pay TV subscribers in countries outside of Africa do no exactly pay cheaper rates. The fattest bouquet (Premier) on US pay TV provider, Direct TV’s platform costs $110 or N38, 710 monthly. Next to it is the Ultimate package, which costs $60 (N21, 660). On the providers third tier is the Xtra package, which attracts $55 (N19, 855). Direct TV’s three other packages, Choice, Entertainment and Select attract $45 (N16, 245), $40 (N14, 440) and $35 (N12, 635).
United Kingdom’s premier pay TV operator, Sky TV, charges £79.95 (N38, 167.33) for its topmost package and £47.50 (N22, 572.97) for the one next to it. Below that is the package that costs £40 (N19, 008.82). Prices for Sky TV’s three lowest packages are £30 (N14, 256.61), £25 (N11, 731.54) and £20 (N9, 504.41) respectively. In the Central American country of Mexico, where Sky TV also operates, it respectively charges MXN 1039 (N19, 798.52) and MXN 829 (N15, 796. 52) for its two biggest packages. The two lower ones cost MXN 649 (N12, 366.93) and MXN 569 (N10, 842.50).
Rates charged by Australian operator, Foxtel, are in the same range. The pay TV service provider charges subscribers on its premium package 75 Australian dollars or AUD (N20, 081.53). The next to it costs AUD 55 (N14, 726. 45). The two other packages on its platform attract AUD 46 (N12, 316. 67) and AUD 26 (N6, 961.60) respectively.
Around the world, pay TV subscription rates usually provoke impassioned debates, especially with the annual price adjustments made pay TV operators. These, investigations revealed, are largely imposed by rising programming costs, which cut into operators’ margins. The jump in fees paid by pay TV operators to carry TV networks are chiefly occasioned by the rising costs of the TV networks, particularly sports for which they have to continuously pay more to sports leagues (like the English Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A and NBA) for must-have programming.
The networks are, therefore, compelled to pass on the costs to pay TV companies which, in turn, pass a portion of it to their subscribers.
According to consumerreports.org, most Pay TV operators in the US announced price hikes in 2018, with some introducing hidden fees.
American firm, S&P Global Market Intelligence, estimates that network fees being paid by Pay TV operators are more than double what they were a decade ago.
The company also reckons that pay TV consumer bills in the US rose by 53% since 2007 to $100.98 in 2017.
Early this year, US Pay TV provider Cox Communications, informed its customers of plans to institute across-the-board price increases, with rates for video packages increasing by $1 to $5 a month. The announcement was quickly followed by similar ones made by two other providers, Comcast and Dish Network.
Explaining the price increase Todd Smith, Cox representative, was quoted by fiercecable.com as saying: “The rising cost of programming content continues to be the main reason why our video prices increase.”