A simmering broadcast news recently has been the story of Multichoice Nigeria jacking up subscription rates on its various packages in order to remain in business in Nigeria. Coming on the heels of other similar developments like the 50 percent hike in telecoms tariff, and the stratospheric increase in electricity tariffs last year, Nigerians were outraged, understandably.
Their cries got to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, which immediately asked Multichoice to stay action while proper investigations were being carried out. I would probably have said while a determination was being made.
March 1, 2025 as per the notice sent to subscribers, and like words cast in stone, Multichoice carried out increases between 20 percent and 25 percent. No diplomacy at all to try and sweet-talk FCCPC into a position where nobody would feel humiliated.
I have always wondered why the tangle wasn’t between Multichoice and the regulator of the broadcast industry, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC. It would probably have been a straight fight. There may be a reason for this. I have been looking at the broadcast books, like the NBC Act CAP N11, 2004, and the the Nigeria Broadcast Code and can’t remember any area where a price determination was ever suggested, except the Code which forbids broadcast operators from engaging in anti-competitive behaviour.
Could it have been superfluous if the NBC inserted the opportunity to have a say in the determination of prices and tariffs of products and services in the industry it superintends? Perhaps this may yet be done through some amendments that could be introduced the Act and the Code.
Don’t get me wrong at all. I stand for the dictates of the free market where the business owner can fix prices, especially in a challenging economy that is humbling everybody. That is the reason I put my head on the chopping board to advocate for telecoms tariff hike. This should also indicate where I stand on the Multichoice matter. However, things should be done reasonably and in order with respect to the various laws of the land and even constituted authorities. But the case is going through the court motions and we should all shut up like the unlearned people we are!
Once Multichoice initiated the increases, the FCCPC immediately went to the courts to file proceedings against the pay TV service provider and its Chief Executive, John Ugbe, over alleged violations of regulatory directives and obstruction of ongoing inquiry.
Nobody would blame FCCPC which carries the expectations of the people on its shoulders and should be seen to be taking actions to alleviate their burden at this time. One would pray here that at some point, the organisation should create some time to look at the atrocities of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, which, in a most shameful way, albeit boastfully on its part, has been trying to share 6003 megawatts of electricity among over 220 million Nigerians. Afterall, Nigerians feel even more pained by the near absence of electricity supply.
Following an exparte motion filed by its lawyers, Multichoice, March 3, 2025, had its prayers answered as it secured an interim injunction restraining FCCPC and its officers from carrying out the threatened prosecution of Multichoice pending the hearing and determination of the motion of an interlocutory injunction.
Oh! Things getting more interesting and getting more muddled up? This is not a review of the court proceedings, as I am the least competent to do so, being unlearned. I also do not want to speculate about the outcome of this case which is as sure as tomorrow happening or as sure as the painful reality that there will be no electricity supply to about three quarters of the population of Nigeria today or even a larger percentage not having food on the table. However, quite a number of things have come up on the side, so loud that they drown reason and common sense.
One. There is a strong demand that the NBC should be involved in the fixing of subscription prices. This is understandable in the sense that only in 2023, Multichoice raised subscription twice, one in April and the other in November. And then this increase, March 2025. But as it is now, such demand is not possible. The market is deregulated and the operators have a right to operate without threatening inhibitions from the regulator.
Two. It has been sugggested that the regulator should break the monopoly of Multichoice. It will stop the operator’s arbitrariness concerning subscription. This is more of wishful thinking. Did the NBC deliberately create a monopoly in Multichoice? I don’t think so. Monopoly can grow from market distortions created by an unpredictable economy, including cost of money, unwarranted feeling of entitlement mentality by some licencees, presumptive feeling of market understanding even when a proper feasibility has not been done, and especially for pay TV the lack of patience or capacity to build to build attractive and marketable channels.
The regulator will have to do something extraordinary and, in fact, go beyond regulation to achieve a different result and meet the yearnings and prayers of pay TV subscribers. That will not happen immediately, not by waving a magic wand, even if this obvious truth can prove painful to some people.
To be honest, I believe the pay TV sector needs a reset, a recreation of the entire ecosystem in order to deracinate some latent booby traps that will continue to abort efforts invested in the sector. All efforts to create competition in the sector have failed not because there is a monopoly that swallows up competitions but because of some obtuse realities not sensed at the early stages of licensing. Time has come for the regulator to interrogate the process and take some urgent decisions.
There is something else that has to be done. There is a failing that cannot be swept under the carpet, if you accommodate this cliche. The regulator must quickly revisit the Digital Switchover, DSO, process, ensure thorough re-examination and reactivation of the process and do everything possible to bring it to conclusion. Concluding the process can do a lot of good for the entire broadcast industry. So much monies will change hands, jobs will be created and technology will be upscaled as there will be more channels to be filled with new contents.
Competition in the pay TV cannot be legislated, no matter how you may feel about some developments. But it is not too early or late to address a problem that may well last into the future. The onus rests on the NCC to act.
