By Damilare Adeleye
The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal has ordered Multichoice Nigeria to provide a month of free subscription to its DStv and GOtv users.
This is even as the tribunal also imposed a fine of N150 million on the company for challenging its jurisdiction.
This ruling comes after the tribunal had previously barred Multichoice from increasing the prices of its subscription packages.
A three-man panel led by Justice Thomas Okosu delivered the rulings on Friday, June 7.
“The jurisdiction of this tribunal extends to all business activities within Nigeria,” the panel ruled.
The consumer protection court on April 29 issued an order restraining Multichoice Nigeria Limited from implementing the DStv and GOtv subscription prices hike it had earlier last week.
The three-member panel of the tribunal sitting in Abuja presided over by Saratu Shafii, issued the order.
The interim order followed an ex-parte motion filed before the court by Ejiro Awaritoma, counsel for the applicant, Festus Onifade.
Recall that the management of Multichoice Nigeria Limited had announced a fresh hike in the prices of subscriptions for its DStv and GOtv packages.
The hike came barely four months after the previous fee adjustment.
According to an email sent to customers, the company said the new prices on its DStv and GOtv packages would take effect on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
The new prices would affect both new subscribers and existing customers renewing their packages.
Giving the reason for the fresh hike, the company said the new price adjustment came as a result of the persistent increase in the cost of production within the country.
The pay television outlet increased the subscription fee for packages on both platforms from about 20 percent to about 26 percent, depending on the package.
For instance, the cost of the DStv Premium Package was increased from the old price of N29,500 to the new price of N37,000.
The cost of the Compact Plus package was increased from N19,800 to N25,000.
The compact package moved from N12,500 to N15,700; Confam package was increased from N7400 to N9300; Yanga moved from N4,200 to N5,100; Padi that was N2950 is now N3360; HDPVR Access Service – N4000 moved to a new price of N5000; Access fees old price N4000 increased to N5000 and XtraView old price N4000 increased to N5000.
For GOtv package: Supa+ increased from N12,500 to N15,700; Supa old increased from N7,600 to N9,600; Max increased from N5,700 to N7,200; Jolli increased from N3,950 to N4,850; Jinja package increased from N2,700 to N3,300; and Smallie package increased from N1,300 to N1,575.
The new subscription price in the email signed by Chief Executive Officer, Multichoice, John Ugbe, explained that the move would allow the firm to provide more quality content to its subscribers’ homes across the country.
