By John Oloruntoba
It was Dele Giwa, the ace journalist/writer murdered through a parcel bomb in October 1986, who wrote that Nigerians are quite “unshokable”. He stated this against the backdrop of the perceived docility of the civil society in Nigeria in the face of bad governance and irresponsible leadership under the military in the 80s. How can a people be so educated and yet stomach open deceit? How can a country be so blessed and yet be wallowing in destitution.
Were he alive today, I wonder what Dele Giwa would say or write about the in-your-face insult being heaped on Nigerians and all the regulatory agencies presently by the cable TV “monopolist”, MultiChoice. It is a case of insufferable provocation.
Few weeks ago, MultiChoice, the operator of DSTV/GoTV in Nigeria, had announced reduction in the prices of their products and services in their home country, South Africa.
According to their management, the action was in solidarity with South Africans who were going through “hard times”. Its CEO, Byron Du Plessis, specifically attributed it to “financial pressures faced by households”.
But that was not the only “palliative”. MultiChoice added more goodies for South Africans in form of additional channels and enhanced streaming features.
Of course, everyone clapped for them as a sensitive and sensible corporate.
But elsewhere in Nigeria, the same MultiChoice chose to administer a starkly different medicine on its customers. Rather than reduction, it announced yet another hike in subscription fees without any add-ons, barely eight months after similarly hiking prices! As if Nigerians were a bunch of foolish oil sheiks who do not know what to do with free oil money. What an egregious insult!
Unlike the new channels added in South Africa where folks are now paying less, MultiChoice dubiously lumped channels that should be aired free of charge to Nigerians, into the “bouquets” it sells to hapless Nigerians at marked up rates! What a shame! Are Nigerians so docile that they cannot protest this in-your-face cheating by a greedy multinational in their own country?
Coming to think of it, Nigeria’s market is far bigger than South Africa’s. So, from even the angle of the economy of scale, the rates in Nigeria should be far cheaper than that of South Africa.
Well, the only sensible deduction one can make from this is that MultiChoice is now milking Nigerians to subsidise their compatriots in South Africa.
In all of this, I think I would blame our regulators who have over-indulged MultiChoice to carry on with this Apartheid policy in Nigeria for far too long. Of course, older generations of Nigerians couldn’t have forgotten the negative connotations of the word, “Apartheid”. It described the discriminatory policy employed by white minority rulers who oppressed and repressed the black majority in South Africa until 1994 when the first black man in the person of Dr Nelson Mandela emerged president. While apartheid lasted for decades in South Africa, there was a global coalition of all black nations and men and women of good conscience against that obnoxious policy. Interestingly, Nigeria as a nation had bankrolled the resistance struggle in South Africa through the 70s and the 80s generously.
Sadly and ironically, the same apartheid policy is what MutiChoice is now unleashing in Nigeria without any scruple. But this has got to stop! This impunity must stop!
The same contempt MultiChoice has for Nigerians is what they also exhibit towards our regulatory bodies. By their action, MultiChoice also gives the impression that our judiciary is on their dough. Only that can explain why MultiChoice brazenly ignored an order from FCCPC against increasing prices in February and, instead, rushed to the court in Abuja to procure an order restraining FCCPC from interfering in their pricing. Just like that! Again, what an insult!
Indeed, when MultiChoice first announced its plan in February barely eight months after a similar increment in 2024, FCCPC had summoned them to come and explain the rationale behind the latest decision, given that the market fundamentals suggest otherwise. One, the exchange rate had become stable, just as petrol price was coming down. In fact, latest reports by the nation’s statistics bureau indicated inflationary trend had come down consistently. So, what could be the justification for another increase?
I strongly believe that MultiChoice’s Shylock tendency and predatory antics stem mainly from its monopolistic stranglehold on the cable TV sector in Nigeria. It has wielded this unfair advantage unscrupulously over the years. By craftily securing exclusivity rights over popular sports (soccer) channels with the European brand owners, MultiChoice has succeeded in edging out Nigerian competitors in the industry. It was the strategy it had used to force a promising Nigerian challenger called HiTV into bankruptcy in the 2000s.
It is high time Nigerians come together to stop this nonsense by MultiChoice.
I therefore call on FCCPC to challenge the recent compromised court ruling against the interest of Nigerians to the highest court in the land.
I am wholly in support of the clarion call that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should take decisive steps to foster genuine competition in the pay-TV sector and dismantle MultiChoice’s monopoly on the market.
*John Oloruntoba, a Sports investor, is based in Lagos.
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