Major cable television operators in Nigeria and other stakeholders have said that the Pay-Per-View (PPV) subscription model being canvassed by the Senate is difficult to implement.
The Senate in March 2022 asked pay-TV service providers to consider the PPV subscription model, but during a public hearing by a Senate ad-hoc committee investigating pay-tv hikes and the PPV demand yesterday, operators said the subscription model was not feasible because of the lack of required technology.
They also said the hike in the price of their bouquet was due to the harsh economic environment under which they operate in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, said: “Whilst it may appear to be a noble intent for this committee to be concerned over the rising cost of subscription services; however, the Pay-Per-View (PPV) model being canvassed by this committee will not work either to the benefit of the consumer or the industry.
“The desire by this committee to adopt PPV is further challenged by the nonexistence of any technology that can detect or determine the viewers that are tuned in per time.”
The CEO of Billsbox Services, Dr Monday Michaels Ashibogwu, said for Nigeria to have pay-per-view introduced, pay television subscribers will require additional payment to a pay-per-view channel owner for the television content they desire to watch and at a much higher cost.
However, the duo of Dr. Bright Echeffe, the Chief Executive Officer of TSTV and Tunde Aina, Chief Operating Officer of Startimes, said operators could adopt pay per day model to assuage the complaints of subscribers.
“Pay per view is not feasible but we came up with pay per day. We also allow our subscribers to choose the package based on the number of channels they want to watch,” said Echeffe.