The many troubles of MultiChoice, by Okoh Aihe

In a world where distances to jurisdictions can be measured with a flip of the button, happenings between pay-TV operator, MultiChoice and the government of Ghana was keenly followed in Nigeria. In a quirk coincidence, the broadcaster was also having a load of problems in Nigeria and quite a number of people patiently monitored the Ghanaian situation. 

When the resolution came, it was reported as a newsbreak in both countries. MultiChoice agrees to cut DStv prices in Ghana, Techpoint Africa reported.  Nairametrics, on the other hand, informed that MultiChoice bows to  Ghana’s pressure, agrees too reduce DStv prices. It was a big story within the period and one that would resonate in the various jurisdictions where Multichoice is doing business. Sometimes, I am almost tempted to believe they are talking about staple food like garri and yam which the ordinary people need dearly and not a bespoke product like DSTV.

In nearly all the jurisdictions, the name MultiChoice is synonymous with trouble. The broadcast operator is struggling to survive harsh economic headwinds and some methods it has adopted for survival have caused obvious discomfort to broadcast regulators and even whole government as in the case of Ghana. 

But there is the headache that comes with being a big multinational. MultiChoice has borne some of it, and sometimes with obvious strains. The operator has complained for all to hear, although such complaints have hardly been accepted as justifications for desperate measures. 

It was a long-drawn battle in Ghana over high subscription rates, just like Nigeria, with the broadcast regulator holding out perilously. It was warned of the risk to its license. Oh, you just think that’s a little absurd and impossible? The regulator can make anything happen and no operator wants to see an extreme threat executed. 

But such decision may not be necessary. Just cut rates by as much as 30 per cent and there would be peace all round. The people of Ghana will be happy and the operator will be happy too.

The position in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is that when a handshake goes beyond the elbow, you know it has become a very serious matter. The negotiations in Ghana were so crucial that the entire government apparatus was involved – Ministry of Communications, Digital Tech and Innovation, and the National Communications Authority, NCA, were both involved in the negotiations that ended in a deserved breakthrough. 

The positive development was announced by a happy Minister of Communications, Sam George, who said “the data supplied by MultiChoice gave us the evidence we needed to push for a fair outcome.”

I do not want to shout regulatory capture because it was the minister announcing an industry decision instead of the regulator. Even with that observation, let me state here that their line of argument against the operator was almost cast in stone. The DSTV Premium bouquet in Ghana costs as much $83; the same bouquet costs $29 Nigeria. As they say, plead your strong argument for the unbiased mind to decide. Multichoice had little room to fight any more. It was cornered!

In Nigeria, subscription cost remains the centre point of disagreement. But there are other intervening issues that are almost crushing. In July, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, NDPC, slammed MultiChoice with a fine of N766m ($501,340) for data breach – for intrusive and unfair data processing (MultChoice’s collection and handling of subscriber data unnecessary and disproportionate), and illegal data transfer (personal information was allegedly shared across borders without proper safeguards).

This followed a year’s rigorous investigation and remediation by responding company was deemed inadequate. Even this now should be considered a little pinch compared to other issues. In my part of the world, they say it doesn’t rain; it simply pours. 

Last financial report says that MultiChoice Nigeria’s subscription revenue declined by 44 percent to $197.74m in the financial year ended March 2025, down from $355.93m recorded in the same period a year earlier, as rising inflation and a worsening economic climate triggered a mass exit of subscribers. 

The pay-TV operator has lost 1.4m subscribers in Nigeria since its financial year which ended in March 2023, accounting for 77 percent of the 1.8m subscribers lost across the African market. 

But headlining all this is the supposedly high subscription costs which rile subscribers across the nation, prompting the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Competition, FCCPC, to step into the matter in search for an amicable resolution of the discontents on the table. At a point last year, the operator grew impatient with the organisation and attracted a fine of N150m.

What really is the problem? Subscribers in Nigeria are saying that the subscription rates are high. Here are the rates beginning March 1, 2025. DSTV Package – Premium N44,500, Compact Plus N30,000, Compact N19,000, Confam N11,000, Yanga N6,000, and Padi N4,400.

Here are the subscriptions on GOTV. Supa Plus N16,800, Supa N11,400, Max N8,500, Jolli N5,800, Jinja N3,900, and Smallie N1,900. We argue that the rates are high and the FCCPC is looking into the matter while the regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, is watching with keen interest. 

But what really is our line of argument? Ghana had one:  Premium bouquet costs $89 in Ghana, the same is $29 in Nigeria. What is our presentation?

Let me give the following figures. Premium bouquet in Mozambique is $103, Kenya $78, South Africa $48.19, and $25 in Angola, which appears to be the lowest on the continent. 

Following from the above, it stands to reason that we may not be able to pursue justifiably the case of DSTV fleecing us in Nigeria. This is what I think. We have been too emotional to give genuine reflection to the issue at hand or we have been influenced to look at the stick hitting the snake instead of the person holding the stick. 

With a minimum wage at N70,000 and the dollar doing N1,500 in the open market, meaning that Nigerians are actually earning less now than they did 10 years ago, the underlying problem I think is economy, and this was succintly captured in the Multichoice annual report as “rising inflation and worsening economic climate”, a beautiful phrase that deodorises how badly an economy is doing. People are more concerned with matters of the stomach and school fees than a TV bouquet that may seem superfluous.

I do not want to sugggest that Multichoice is having a little dose of transferred aggression from a populace so angry and disatisfied with so many things, but I do want to observe that the operator has not been able to position itself beyond the garb of a foreign business treating its customers with arrogance. Not being able to justify a product price increase even with ample evidence at its disposal is one of its cardinal failures buoyed by such arrogance. The organisation suffered this incurable attitude that Nigerians must swallow everything thrown at them!

Plus the anger of Nigerians is the multi-opportunities fuelled by ever expanding scope of technolgy which gives them alternative access to news and entertainment on the go. DSTV becomes a little bit outdated in this respect although it also provides a mobile viewing platform for its subscribers who can hang their necks on the premium rates. 

Two other major issues that MultiChoice must deal with in Nigeria in other to have business stability and some level of comfort are regulatory and high stakes politics. The pay-TV service provider must be able to strike some understanding with the broadcast regulator, NBC, and the FCCPC in the area of pricing.

There are things happening to MultiChoice that go beyond regulatory. While it is not also speculation to attribute them to politics, this writer will want to observe that the existence of such political subterranean intrigues is the very reason some service providers have Government and Legislative Departments to deal with such matters. Multichoice hasn’t done well in this respect. 

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