21st March, 2016
Lukman Ariyibi
A few weeks ago, the Senate developed an idea that the time has come for it to show “moral courage” to reverse a trend considered so inimical to the welfare of Nigerians. That trend, reckoned the Senate, is the dominance of pay-TV service company, MultiChoice, whose DStv platform is the biggest in the sector.
The idea, which the Senate apparently considered terrific, was sold to it by Senator Isah Missau from Bauchi State, mover of a motion titled “Concern About Unwholesome Practices by MultiChoice Nigeria (DStv)”.
Misau is piqued by MultiChoice’s dominance of the pay-TV sector, the reason for which, he believes, makes it engage in negative and unhealthy trade practices. These alleged practices, said Misau, have led to complaints, petitions and litigations with subscribers angry with its programming and subscription hikes.
Misau argued that the motion was of public interest because many football fans in the country, especially English Premier League fans, have been left at the mercy of DStv, exclusive owners of the broadcast rights to the premium sport content in the country. He followed it up with charges of arbitrary hikes in subscription and refusal to adopt the pay-as-you-use method, which he claimed, obtains in other countries where MultiChoice operates.
“Many concerned Nigerians are aggrieved and in constant demand to stop DStv’s arbitrary price hikes, noting that recent increase in DStv subscription is outrageous and totally unacceptable,” Misau raved.
Speaking along the same lines, Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Na’Allah, said: “We have found ourselves in the situation where certain people position themselves for a business in such a manner because they have exclusive monopoly. This does not help any growing economy in any country and I think the moral courage to reverse this situation in the overall interest of Nigeria rests with this Senate.”
The Senate proceeded by summoning Mr. Emeka Enelamah, Minister of Industries, Trade and Investment; heads of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and directed its Committee on Information to hold a public hearing for all stakeholders, including the civil society on how to shield subscribers from exploitation.
The Senate must have been pleased with itself for its effort at giving an impression that it had started a battle against exploitation of Nigerians in general and fans of a foreign league in particular. This could be gleaned from the words of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is persuaded that the motion was beyond DStv and was actually about protecting the Nigerians’ rights in the area of services.
“We must play our role to ensure that we protect Nigerians and ensure that the best global practices are happening in our own country.
“So, I would want the committees, as directed, to look into the matter, particularly to ensure that the CPC plays the role they (sic) should play in ensuring that the rights of Nigerians are always protected,” said the Senate President.
First, it is a fact that generous sums are set aside for the purchase of newspapers for senators. They also, like the average Nigerian, have access to online news platforms. How it eluded them that the CPC, the government agency charged with doing what the Senate claimed it is planning to do, recently carried out an investigation into the operations of MultiChoice. And just a week before Misau stumbled on his grand idea, the CPC released its recommendations, which were well circulated.
If this is not a wasteful expense of legislative time, I do not know what else is.
Misau’s claim of a “recent increase in DStv subscription”, which “is outrageous and totally unacceptable” is as inaccurate as it is laughable.
The last hike in subscription, as all subscribers know, took effect on 1 April, 2015-almost a year ago. How that could be classified as recent is a mystery to me. Before then, there was no subscription increase for two years, during which the value of the naira kept plummeting. Clearly. Misau is unaware that Nigeria runs a high-cost economy, one in which operating costs regularly drive business owners close to the edge, and provides a firm basis for increases in prices of goods and services.
The last subscription hike provoked litigation by two misguided lawyers, who were told by the court that dismissed their suit that they are not obliged to use MultiChoice’s services. Misau is similarly misguided in his apparent belief that pay-TV-at a cost agreeable only to him-is a basic human right. Legislatures in democracies do not fix prices of goods/services provided by private entities, do they?
The same week Misau was talking about arbitrary price hikes, DStv reduced the prices of its decoders and announced the creation of two new channels to make available, at no additional cost, the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and the matches of this year’s European Championship to its Compact subscribers.
Misau and his colleagues are not better informed than crowds at newsstands, where extravagantly baseless claims are presented as gospel. The demand for a pay-as-you-use model in Nigeria as it obtains in other countries where MultiChoice operates? That must have been ghost-written by a denizen of a newsstand because it is baseless. An internet search would have told Misau that he parroting an invention. MultiChoice does not have a pay-as-you-use model in any country it operates. And monopoly? Another myth. DStv, sure, is dominant. But that is because it started earlier than others and has continued to acquire content that subscribers want to watch. Misau and the Deputy Senate Leader, who think a monopoly exists, have certainly never heard of ACTV, Consat, Montage, StarTimes and MyTV. They also never heard of the defunct HiTV which, for three years, was the sole broadcaster of English Premier League in the country.
Two things, I believe, are behind this wrong-headed move. The first is a desperate bid by Senators who, despite undeservedly living like kings on our resources, want to be seen as protecting us against exploitation. For the low quality service they render, they do not justify being paid the enormous salaries and allowances flowing into their bank accounts. That makes them very ineligible to utter the phrase “moral courage”. If they possessed anything close to that, it would be obvious to them that they are ones sucking life out of Nigerians.
The other is barely disguised xenophobia. The relentless reference to MultiChoice as a South African company on the day the motion was moved was an indication of a desire to set Nigerians against South Africa. MultiChoice Nigeria, though part of a South African group, is a Nigerian company. Even if not, the hate the senators are trying to stir is unjustifiable. Foreign companies operate and will continue to do so in Nigeria. I am not aware that they have stopped Nigerian companies from operating here. The senators forget that Nigerian companies, notably the Dangote Group, operate in other African countries. How happy will they be if legislators in those countries stir hate against Dangote?
Misau, gleefully, spoke about access to the English Premier League. How about the Glo Premier League? The Senate is obviously not interested in starting a conversation around making the domestic football league appealing locally and internationally. Perhaps, the Premier League, which is a company, has hired our senators as part-time marketing executives for games of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Ariyibi, a lawyer, writes from Ilorin