At last, the much awaited revolution is taking place in the pay-television industry in Nigeria thanks in part to the battle for the soul of subscribers.
Recall that at the time the industry was a monopoly, the service by the dominant operator was nothing to write home about and the rich who could afford it groaned.
Today, like mobile phones, pay-tv has no class and that is the product of liberalization and tough competition among various brands.
The immediate positive effect is choice, better customer service, and affordable tariff.
Dstv, a brand owned by South Africa’s Multi-Choice was the first to grace the screens of Nigerian subscribers in 1994, offering a wide array of channels which covered news, movies, music, sports, documentary and general entertainment.
In a bid to make these services available to all Nigerians, Dstv came up with three bouquets namely: Dstv Premium Channels which has 64 channels and costs N9, 000 per month, Dstv Compact Channels which has 42 channels and costs N4, 300 per month and Dstv Family Channels which has 29 channels and costs N2, 500 per month.
Dstv has also tried to cut across language boundaries by introducing Portuguese, French and Indian language specific bouquets and also language channels which include Chinese, Greek, Arabic, German, Spanish, and others.
Entertainment Highway Limited, owners of Hitv which prides itself as an Indigenous company began broadcasting in February, 2007 and is catching up.
It has dangled unbelievably incentives, things thought not possible before now.
It uses the Direct to Home satellite technology which is able to transmit high quality pictures to end users.
The platform has more than 20 digital channels including specially created ones such as Hi-Nolly, Hi-Kids, Hi-Ovation, Nigezie, Hi-Biz, Hi-Sports, Hi-Mix as well as Amuludun Telly, a joint project with the Lagos State television, which showcases Yoruba programmes tailored to suit the Yoruba audience; and the recently included Trace TV, an exclusively music channel.
Some other channels offer programmes which broadcast entertainment, lifestyle and sports from the Nigerian scene. Since its inception, Hitv has been widely patronized.
The monthly subscription rates now are as low as N4, 000 for both Cable and Satellite packages while the cost of installation is N14, 000 and N9, 999 respectively. So, subscribers can enjoy premium content at a reasonable price.
However, the competition between Dstv and Hitv is deeply rooted. Some Dstv subscribers have actually migrated to Hitv and some have subscribed to both brands. Despite this and other developments, Dstv has always given its subscribers value for their money and maintained high standards in both picture quality and programming. Hitv has also lived up to expectations and has given the sport loving community value for money. It has secured rights to the live broadcasts of the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie ‘A’, the UEFA match series, the NBA play-offs, among others. This implies that it has become a good alternative to its rival and may in the near future enjoy the number of clientele Dstv does.
Other brands existing in Nigeria today include Skysat, Mytv, CTL, Trendtv, Eurostar, etc. Fstv, the first indigenous brand and Titv are now defunct as they could not keep up with the competition. There is a silent war among these theden players to capture a greater share of the market and the on-going competition would culminate in the reduction of subscription fees, thus making them affordable to all who care to subscribe.