The ever-rising cost of DStv’s services…Tribune

IN spite of a court order restraining Multichoice, the operators of Digital Service Television (DStv) from giving effect to the increase in the cost of its services, the company has been collecting higher tariffs from its subscribers. The South Africa-based pay television firm last month announced that it was going to hike the cost of its various services by 20 per cent with effect from April 1, 2015.  This was, however, challenged by two of its subscribers, Messrs Adebayo Osasuyi and Olayinka Oyeniyi in a class action at a Federal High Court in Lagos.

In his ruling on the case on Thursday, April 2, 2015, the presiding judge, Mr. Justice C. J. Aneke said inter alia: “That an order of interim injunction is hereby granted to the parties to maintain the status quo restraining the first defendant (Multichoice/DStv) from giving effect (to) or enforcing its planned increase in the cost of the different classes of viewing or programmes bouquet pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

It is common knowledge that Nigerians have always been hapless victims of exploitation.  This unfortunate situation is not due to lack of institutions that should defend their rights but attributable to the failure of these institutions to live up to their responsibilities.  It is painful and worrisome that agencies put in place at public expense have not been serving the public interest.  The utilities that exist to provide illumination are either under-performing or not performing, yet Nigerians are being compelled to pay for services not rendered.  The preoccupation has always been with the cost and not  the delivery of the service.

In spite of persistent complaints, there has been no positive response to the progressive deterioration in the performance of the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) service providers.  While dropped calls have become a common occurrence, subscribers are being inundated with unsolicited messages on daily basis.  Filling stations that have been selling fuel above the controlled price have remained unchecked because the agency that exists to perform that function has been looking the other way.

It is gratifying that private individuals have been rising to the challenge of defending the people’s rights through the law court. Like the MTN, another South African business interest in Nigeria, the DStv enjoys heavy patronage.  That there is an advantage in large-scale production is a simple economic fact.  The larger the clientele, the less should be the cost of production and the cost of the product.  Why has the converse been the case with the DStv?  Why should exploitation be the response to higher patronage?

Osasuyi and Oyeniyi also prayed  the court to order the National Broadcasting Commission  –  the agency that oversees the operations of DStv  –  to implement a new system of service called Pay Per View.  This system, they contended, would enable subscribers to choose the programmes they wanted and pay as they watched as being practised in some other parts of the world.  This is an idea the regulators should pursue with utmost vigour.

The NBC appears as if it is totally helpless.  How tenable is the company’s claim that the increase in subscription  fees has been necessitated by inflation?  Has there been an increase in the operating cost of the company in Nigeria?  Does such an increase  –  if there has been any  –  justify an across-the-board hike of 20 per cent in the cost of its services?  South African firms in Nigeria are in flourishing circumstances.  The exploitation of Nigerian citizens should not be the appropriate response of South African firms to the accommodating environment that exists in Nigeria.  The conducive atmosphere provided in Nigeria does not obtain in South Africa where recently, the nationals of many countries (including Nigeria) have been the targets of constant xenophobic attacks.

The NBC should be particularly interested in establishing whether or not the DStv has flouted a court order.  It will tantamount to disregard for Nigerian laws for a foreign company to ignore a court order.  Any foreign company found to have done so should be appropriately sanctioned.  The two gentlemen who instituted the suit acted in the interest of Nigerian customers of the DStv after the regulatory agency had failed to serve this vital purpose.   The NBC should not be a passive onlooker when foreign companies wantonly fleece Nigerians.  Regulatory agencies should be able to cost the production cost of organisations  under their supervision and check excesses in the pricing of their services.   The contract of service of foreign companies should be subject to scrutiny and approval.  It should not be an imposition by these companies.