The Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe has said that the pay-as-you-go billing model for pay-TV that Nigerians clamoured for is not commercially and technically viable.
Ugbe made this disclosure while meeting with the House of Representatives ad hoc committee that is investigating the non-implementation of the pay-as-you-go billing model by satellite broadcast service providers that DSTV does not possess the technology to put on hold and resume payment plans.
He said: “On the pay-as-you-go model, there is a misconception of the telecommunications industry and the TV industry, it is not a concept that is available in the broadcast industry.
“If you look at some of the international organisations offering some of those services online, it is a two-way communication. You will see that their billing method is still fixed.
“Telecommunications companies can offer you an option where you can stop and restart but unfortunately that is not the model in the broadcast industry.
“You must also note that you have to buy these services and repackage and sell – you cannot be selling different from what you buy. We don’t have the technology to support that service where if you switch off the TV it stops or restart the service at 12 and stop it at 1pm. That technology is not available to us.”
Ugbe remarked that the pay-per-view alternative is usually misconceived as pay-as-you-go and said the latter is a metered service which enables consumers to be charged for the service they enjoy alone and not for a fixed period.
He said: “A subscriber who wants to watch an event on PPV is required to pay an additional fee besides his subscription.
“A typical example would be the Mayweather and Pacquiao, and Wilder and Fury II boxing bouts which were retailed on PPV in the United States for $100 and $79.99 respectively.
“The Mayweather/Pacquiao bout, which was shown on DStv premium bouquet, would cost N38,000, which would far exceed the cost of any of the DStv bouquets,” he said.
Ugbe further disclosed that the recently implemented upward review in DSTV subscriptions was triggered by government’s increase of value added tax and poor electricity supply which forced the firm to resort to alternative sources of power.
He said: “When we did the price adjustment, it was in response to the new finance bill and if you look at it you could see that we were even late in making those changes.”
