Reps tell Multichoice to suspend planned increase in subscription price now

The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked Multichoice Nigeria to suspend its proposed increase of DSTV and Gotv subscription across the country pending exhaustive investigations.
The House also directed its Committee on Information to investigate the arbitrary increase in subscription prices by Multichoice with a view to ensuring implementation of cost-effective policies in the pay-TV sector for consumers in Nigeria.
This followed a motion of urgent public importance by Esosa Iyawe (APC, Edo) on the need to compel to suspend and investigate the proposed increase in subscription by Multichoice.
According to him, Multichoice, the owner of Pay TV options DStv and GOtv, recently announced an increase in the prices of all its packages in Nigeria, citing prevalent economic factors leading to increased operational costs as their reason for the proposed increase.
He said the 20%-25% hike in subscription prices would be the second time in less than a year, as the last hike was in May 2024.
According to him, the increase in May 2024 sparked a public outrage and many Nigerians who were already dealing with rising costs of living were forced to ditch their decoders even as they lamented the lack of competition in the pay-TV sector.
He expressed concerned that due to the dominant position of Multichoice in pay-TV, price increases always have a widespread impact and put consumers under undue pressure;
He said the most recent hike in subscription prices announcement has triggered widespread criticism from subscribers, many of whom have taken to social media to express their frustration over frequent price hikes without a corresponding improvement in service quality and the seeming aloof stance of the government towards the situation.