Subscription for Pay TV is not coming easy for Nigerians as StarTimes, another big player in Nigeria’s pay TV market has equally increased its price for its various bouquets by average of 22 %
From August 1, 2020, StarTimes, Basic Bouquet subscribers will now pay N1,700 as against N1,300 monthly to enjoy close to 80 exciting channels.
Similarly, Classic Bouquet subscribers will pay N2, 500 as against N1, 900 monthly to keep enjoying close to 100 channels.
For DTH (Dish) users: Smart bouquet subscribers will pay N2,200 as against N1,900 monthly; Super Bouquet subscribers will pay N4,200 as against N3,800 monthly. Its Nova bouquet remains unchanged at N900 with over 43 exciting channels.
The increase in prices by StarTimes was as a result of some factors including Federal Government VAT increase effective February 1, 2020 and the impact of the foreign exchange rate on its business.
Speaking on the challenges that the company is facing in its quest to provide cable TV entertainment to subscribers, the StarTimes marketing manager Viki Liu told newsmen during a Webinar that earlier this year, the Federal Government increased the rate of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5% to 7.5%. “This increase did have an effect on our cost but in consideration of our customers’ plight, we continued to bear that extra cost”
She said more recently, “the impact of the foreign exchange rate has had an overwhelming adverse effect on our business. Our business is not exempted from the effect of the naira depreciation affecting all businesses in the country.
“All of our foreign content is bought in dollars and to continually serve our subscribers the best content; we have been constrained to make the slight review on our subscription rates. The decision to make this review is based on compelling external factors beyond our control”, she said.
To bring these exciting offerings within the reach of every Nigerian, the pay-TV entertainment provider said it will continue with its flexible subscription options – daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, allowing Nigerians to subscribe according to their needs and means.
She noted that the model options are available for all bouquets; and whether a customer subscribes daily, weekly or monthly to a bouquet, the customer will have access to the same channels and services, adding that flexible billing systems are reasonable for people who do not spend reasonable time watching television after subscription.
It will be recalled that MultiChoice, operators of DStv on June 1, 2020 effected the Federal Government VAT increase from 5% to 7.5%, a development seen by subscribers as usual price increase in its bouquet and which resulted in protests.
The increase saw Premium subscribers on DStv pay N16,200 against N15,800. This is addition of N400. Compact Plus subscribers pay N10,925 against N10,650. Similarly, Compact bouquet price was adjusted from N6,800 to N6,975. Subscribers on Confam bouquet pay N4,615 against N4,500 while Yanga subscribers pay N2,565 against N2,500.
Subscribers on Max on GOtv pay N3,280 from N3,200 while Jolli and Jinja subscribers pay N2,460 and N16,640 respectively.
MultiChoice explained that the increase in fees was in line with the legislation of the Federal Government which increased VAT in January 2020, with implementation effective 1 February 2020
