Broadcasting
MultiChoice, Others Reject Senate’s Pay-Per-View DSTV Subscription Model
MultiChoice Nigeria and major stakeholders in the pay television broadcasting industry in the country have rejected a pay-per-view model advocated by the Senate.
Major cable television providers in the country currently operate the monthly subscription model.
The stakeholders said that the PPV model being canvassed by the Senate is not feasible.
MultiChoice and stakeholders in the sector made the assertions at a one-day public hearing organised by the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee investigating “Pay-Tv hikes and demand for the pay-per-view subscription model in Nigeria,” in Abuja.
The Committee was chaired by Deputy Senate Whip Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.
Some members of the panel present at the session include Senators Michael Nnachi, Suleiman Abdul Kwari and Abba Moro, who moved the motion for the Senate to investigate the incessant price hike by cable television operators in the country.
Mr. John Ugbe, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, in his presentation,said several legal and legislative moves made to compel the firm to operate pay-per-view model did not work because it was not feasible.
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.
“It would appear that this problem is because of some confusion in understanding the basic definitions and distinctions between some of the existing operational business models in telecommunications and pay-tv broadcasting.
“A pay-per-view (PPV) is not the same and is very different from Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG).
“The PPV model allows a subscriber to watch some special one-off events, usually of the high-ticket variety in sports and entertainment, by paying for such events in addition to having an active subscription.
“Pay-As-You-Go, accommodates a metered mode of service, where consumers are billed only for the service they consume and not for a fixed period.
“The desire by this Committee to adopt PPV is further challenged by the non-existence of any technology that can detect and or determine the viewers are tuned in per time.
“Once it is impossible to have this knowledge, billings based on ‘per view’ become difficult if not almost impossible.
“It is therefore my humble submission to this distinguished committee that due to the nature of content acquisition and technological limitations that PAYG model is not practical for broadcasting and thus is not practiced and basically cannot be implemented anywhere in the world.”
On the issue of incessant price increases by MultiChoice, Ugbe attributed the development to several factors including inflation, programming content cost, broadcast transmission facilities and massive investment to innovate and keep up with technological changes.
Other factors, according to him, are anti-piracy costs, security costs, marketing and operational costs, exchange rate fluctuations, tax, regulatory fees, and cumulative national and local levies.
“Some of the adverse economic factors highlighted above have not only affected the subscription prices for pay-tv, but have generally led to substantial increments in the pricing of a wide range of goods and services ranging from essential commodities like food, transportation, clothing, healthcare, educational services to other consumer goods like petrol, building materials, cars, etc,” Ugbe said.
On his part, a former Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba, said the issues of Pay-Per-View (PPV) and Pay-TVpricing, does not amount to an important regulatory problem worthy of Senate’s intervention.
Mba: “As Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Professor Malcom Sparrow famously said in his book ‘The Regulatory Craft’, Regulators should pick important problems and fix them.’
“In my humble opinion it appears that the issues being addressed today, does not reflect or amount to an important regulatory problem.
“Whilst it may appear worrying that pay Tv services subscription charges are increasing, this must be seen within the larger economic window of rising inflation, cost of living and exchange rate challenges that is faced by every sector of the economy.
“For instance, the prices of almost every item on every family’s grocery list have increased significantly, based on the realities of demand and supply occasioned by the economic factors mentioned above.”
Besides, the Chief Executive Officer of TSTV, Dr. Bright Echefu and Chief Operating Officer of Startimes, Tunde Aina, however said even if a PPV model is not feasible, Cable TV operators could adopt pay per day models to lessen the pains of poor subscribers.
Echefu said, “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 numbers of channels they wanted to watch.”
The Chairman’ of the Committee, Sabi Abdullahi, in his opening remarks, said the Senate constituted the panel following a motion on the subject matter approved at plenary.
He said the motion stated that various packages of the MultiChoice bouquet had been increased by 80 per cent in the last five years.
Abdullahi said the development was not in the best interest of the subscribers especially when a Court had cautioned the MultiChoice Nigeria against carrying out its latest increment which it introduced on March 30 this year.
He assured the stakeholders that the Senate had not taken a position on the matter and that the report would be based on the memorandum they submitted to the panel.
The Leader of the Senate, Ibrahim Gobir, who represented the Senate President, urged the stakeholders to be frank in their presentations so as to enable the Senate come up with recommendations that would be in the interest of all.
Abba Moro, who moved the motion, said he believed that the pay-tv should be considerate in their bouquet pricing.
According to him, the MultiChoice, which is the operator of DSTV and GOTV, has over two million subscribers.
He recounted the firm’s many price increment since 2009 till date.
Moro said: “MultiChoice increase prices without recource to the economic reality without adopting the pay-per-view.
“DSTV, GOTV will be raping Nigerians if they consistently shunned the pay-per-view model which could ameliorate the hardship being faced by the subscribers.”
However, the Deputy Director, Research and Policy at the National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Aneke Stan Onyebuchi, who represented the Director General said the agency had no enabling law to either regulate or control the incessant price increases by cable television operators in the country.
Onyebuchi said, “There are negative reactions whenever MultiChoice incresases its price and the NBC is concerned.
“However, the NBC Act only gives it power to receive, consider and investigate complaints regarding broadcast contents. Nowhere in the Act was the NBC given powers to regulate the prices being charged on their services.”
He, therefore urged the National Assembly to amend the NBC Act to give it powers to regulate prices in the industry.
The Director, Tax Policy and Advisory, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Temitayo Orebajo, said cable TV operators are concerned about making profits despite the harsh operational environment.
He said, “The MultiChoice for instance, expresses fears that replacing monthly billing with pay-per view, will reduce their revenues.
“However, the FIRS believes that the migration will not affect their income, rather they would get more subscribers.”
The representative of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Abubakar Ladan, stressed the need to amend the NBC Act to enable the agency sanction erring Cable TV operators.
He said, “We need to review the NBC Act in response to the dynamic and reality on ground, in the interest of the poor subscribers.”
Ladan, who is the Director/ Secretary, Frequency Management Council, said the ministry was doing everything to protect the interest of Nigerians.
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said that its planned Digital Switch-Over (DSO) project will create access to Nigeria’s N605.2 billion advertising market for broadcasters and content creators.
Speaking at a press conference, Charles Ebuebu, director-general, NBC, said the project is expected to officially launch nationwide on June 17, 2026, while analogue television broadcasting will completely end by December 31, 2028.
According to him, the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting will help government agencies deliver better television services across Nigeria in a way that is sustainable, reliable, and easier to regulate.
Ebuebu explained that digital broadcasting will allow broadcasters and content creators to earn more revenue because audience data can be measured more accurately.
He also said the project could benefit the economy through the release of valuable 700/800 MHz spectrum, which may generate more than $1 billion from future auctions.
The funds are expected to support digital infrastructure and expand broadband access in rural communities.
NBC added that Nigeria’s creative industry, which contributes about N5 trillion to GDP and supports more than 4.2 million jobs, could benefit from improved content distribution and export opportunities across West Africa using NigComSat-1R.
For consumers, NBC said the FreeTV service will not require monthly subscription payments. Households will only need a small satellite dish and an open-standard DVB-S2 decoder, estimated to cost between N15,000 and N25,000.
Broadcasters were encouraged to join the FreeTV platform and take advantage of an 18-month free carriage period.
However, the Commission noted that there is still an ongoing legal dispute involving local manufacturers over set-top boxes, although officials said this will not stop the national rollout.
On satellite expansion plans, Jane Egerton-Idehen, managing director and CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, said NIGCOMSAT 2A is expected in 2028, while NIGCOMSAT 2B is planned for 2029.
She added that backup arrangements have already been made to ensure uninterrupted service and that migration to the new system will happen gradually across different regions to avoid nationwide disruptions.
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has unveiled a new “Big Picture” strategy aimed at achieving full nationwide Digital Switch-Over (DSO) by December 31, 2028.
DSOis designed to provide Nigerians with superior picture and sound quality while unlocking an estimated N605.2 billion in advertising revenue and generating over $1 billion from digital spectrum auctions.
Charles Ebuebu, director-general of NBC, in a statement issued on Monday, said the revised strategy adopts a converged broadcasting model combining Direct-to-Home (DTH), Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet Protocol (IP) systems to expand access to digital television services nationwide.
The Commission also announced June 17, 2026, as the official national launch date for the renewed rollout, describing the framework as a more practical pathway toward a sustainable and affordable digital broadcasting system after nearly two decades of delays.
Ebuebu, said that the transition is no longer being treated as a competition between technologies but as a unified access solution tailored to Nigeria’s geographic and infrastructure realities.
“The Big Picture strategy recognises convergence as the future of broadcasting and aligns with the 2012 DSO White Paper, which adopted both terrestrial and satellite standards including DVB-T and DVB-S2 technologies,” the statement said.
NBC said the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) would play a central role in national content distribution, particularly in underserved and remote areas where terrestrial infrastructure remains weak.
The Commission cited countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Kenya, South Africa and Morocco as examples of jurisdictions that successfully adopted hybrid digital broadcasting models to accelerate migration from analogue systems.
On affordability, NBC assured Nigerians that the proposed FreeTV platform would remain subscription-free for baseline access, adding that compatible DVB-S2 decoders currently cost between N15,000 and N25,000. It said discussions were ongoing on possible subsidy arrangements and financing options for low-income households.
The regulator also defended its plan to support both local manufacturing and transitional importation of set-top boxes, noting that Nigeria would require millions of devices over several years to complete the migration.
Beyond transmission, NBC disclosed plans to introduce a national audience measurement system under the GARB ratings framework to improve advertising transparency and broadcasting analytics.
It projected that the DSO programme could unlock Nigeria’s estimated N605.2 billion advertising market while also freeing up valuable digital dividend spectrum estimated at over $1 billion.
NBC further said Nigeria’s creative industry, valued at about N5 trillion and employing more than 4.2 million people, stands to benefit from expanded distribution channels and improved content monetisation.
Broadcasters, it added, would enjoy free carriage on the platform for 18 months, alongside wider national reach, indigenous language channels and improved commercial opportunities.
Association of Licensed Set-Top Box Manufacturers of Nigeria (STBMAN) has warned that the unilateral implementation transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, could trigger confusion, legal disputes, and disruptions capable of undermining the credibility of the 2027 general election.
STBMAN urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene and halt what it described as a unilateral implementation process, pending wider consultations with stakeholders in the broadcasting industry.
Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa, chairman of the association in statement in Abuja, faulted the current implementation process by the National Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC).
STBMAN said that although it supports Nigeria’s digital migration programme, the approach currently being pursued by the NBC appeared rushed and inconsistent with the 2012 Digital Switchover (DSO) White Paper approved by the Federal Executive Council.
The association argued that the arrangement being presented as a Digital Switchover was merely the aggregation of channels on NigComSat platforms rather than a fully Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) migration as originally envisioned under the national DSO framework.
According to the group, failure to carry critical stakeholders along could erode public confidence, weaken access to information, and create avoidable disruptions in the broadcasting sector at a politically sensitive period ahead of the 2027 elections.
It noted that millions of Nigerians still depend on free-to-air broadcasting for information dissemination, civic education, election coverage,e and public enlightenment.
The group stressed that any poorly coordinated migration process could result in signal disruptions, public confusion, and unequal access to information during the election season.
STBMAN also expressed concern that the NBC risked creating a conflict of interest by acting simultaneously as regulator and content aggregator, contrary to the spirit of the 2012 White Paper and global best practices guiding digital broadcasting migration.
The association, therefore, called for an urgent national stakeholders’ roundtable, an independent legal and technical review of the DSO process, review and update of the 2012 DSO White Paper, nationwide public sensitisation on the implications of digital migration, and measures to protect local broadcasting and public interest.
It maintained that it was not opposed to digital migration but insisted that the process must be transparent, inclusive, lawful, and technically sound.
The group warned that failure to properly manage the transition could weaken democratic communication structures, waste public resources, and negatively affect national cohesion and the credibility of the 2027 elections.
“Mr. President, Nigeria cannot afford confusion in its broadcasting system at a time the nation is preparing for another critical democratic transition. The time to act is now,” the statement added.
Association of Licensed Set-Top Box Manufacturers of Nigeria, represents domestic electronics manufacturers responsible for producing the decoder boxes needed for the country’s transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
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