Nigerians Blame Hardship, Epileptic Power Supply For Ignoring DStv, GOtv Subscriptions

Nigerians have blamed the country's current economic problems and poor electricity supply for a significant drop in Digital Satellite Television (DStv) and General Entertainment on Television (GOtv) subscribers.

The South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice Group recently disclosed that its Nigerian unit, MultiChoice Nigeria, lost 243,000 subscribers on its Digital Satellite Television (DStv) and General Entertainment on Television (GOtv) services from April to September this year.

The company had revealed these figures in its Interim Financial Results for the period ending 30 September 2024, which were released on Tuesday.

Reacting to this development, Nigerians on social media said they are no longer interested in subscribing for MultiChoice service because the prices are no longer affordable to them.

A Nigerian, Osborne Osborne said: “With the present state of the economy, people need to work twice as hard to make ends meet which means they would barely have time to watch television. This also means that even if they subscribe, they would almost not derive the dividend of doing so, as a result they chose not to waste the limited money they have.

He added: “Another issue is power, you cannot pay such a high amount for a subscription and also buy petrol to watch programs. As an organization, a win-win would be for viewing to be metered as you watch. That would seem like a viable solution for both parties.”

Patrick Charles said the increment in their price made him stop his subscription last six months.

He said: “They never seen anything...I have stop subscribing more than six months ago because of the increments....they should even leave Nigeria.”

Jeremiah Jeremiah said the hike in the fuel price is another factor that discouraged him from subscribing to DSTv and GOTv.

He said: “After subbing, you buy fuel everyday to watch it and if you don’t watch it, it will expire in a month time. My concern na to watch football but as my phone fit de show me matches, make DSTV owner watch am himself.”

“They will even loose more not just because of inflation but also poor power sector,” Edeh Innocent said.

Emmanuel Akinola Ajilore wrote: “If they refuse to do their subscription to Pay As You Go they will soon be out of business. Their exploitation has been expired.”

Dee Sailor wrote: “They will lose more if they keep increasing their prices. I will watch my matches in the viewing center and use flash to download cartoons for my kids . Make Dem dey play , desperate times demand desperate measures.”

Joseph Omokoh wrote: “Their pride is overbearing, how can they be increasing price without considering the business environment, look at how costly their decoder is this days, a whole 110,000 in this troublesome economy.”

Giwa Rasak wrote: “Electricity situation is one of the problem.”

Rahim Abiodun Mabawonku wrote: “How time changes. And somebody will see no need of japa when they're doing well here. What will happen to there staff now? Closing down of different biz is one the bad things happening in Nigeria nowadays (Oyo ni won wa ooo) On there own.”

Johnson wrote: “There's no way the pay TV won't lose such a huge subscribers. Since they refused to do pay/view package. People would recharge without being able to watch just complete 1 week out of a month subscription. Unstable power supply is one of the major factors that discourage people from accepting the new tariff packages thus forcing them to abandon the south Africa TV company.”

Nnenna Nkiru wrote: “I only watch Gotv because of Aljazeera so since the hike in price I stopped subscribing instead I downloaded Avo Tv on my phone."

Sentinel wrote: “That's a significant drop in subscribers! Do you think MultiChoice Nigeria will make changes to address the inflation and price hikes to win back customers?”