‘Dstv primed to deliver quality programmes to viewers’ – GM MultiChoice Nigeria

Martin Mabutho, general manager, marketing & distribution for MultiChoice Nigeria, speaks with ANTHONY I. NLEBEM, BusinessDay sport correspondent, on the plans and readiness of Dstv to offer unique packages for the 2014/2015 football season and sports development in Nigeria. Except:

What are you major expectations, are there any innovations or anything different from last season that your subscribers should look out for?

The English Premiership League (EPL) is full of drama. With quality players joining the league and also talented coaches like Luis van Gaal, we will continue to prioritise HD. It’s one of our unique selling packages for our business.

We have added a new 3D element that does match analysis. We will continue to improve. Our broadcasting sponsors and viewers will continue to appreciate; we will be bringing new technologies on our decoder. And expect all the games to be brought in a more professional way as we have always been doing.  We look forward to a good season.

When will pay-per-view be available in Nigeria? Is not possible to bundle only the European league matches and sell the content as a single proposition, rather than requiring football fans to pay premium subscription for content not used?

We have considered sports-only package; we’ve also considered pay-per-view for sports. Sport is the component where your subscription gets higher. Its even gets higher when you do pay-per-view packages.  Dstv has more games than Sky Sports and Barclays. For us not to rob our subscribers, no pay-per-view plans. With the economic conditions in Africa, most people cannot afford the pay-per-view plans.

What are your plans to make the Nigeria league as attractive as leagues in Europe?

The broadcast of the league in Nigeria requires closer engagement and collective objectives among the sponsors, administrators and clubs.  Like the premier league in South Africa, with closer collaboration the league has continued to grow.

We have to find a way of enticing people to go to stadium, with security challenge is a problem. We are hoping that with the launch of our new studio, we have a special HD studio for the broadcasting of the Nigeria Premier League.

In the past, you had issues with football viewing centres screening matches without licence; what are your plans in resolving these issues?

We will work very closely with the Copyright Commission of Nigeria. Our approach is to continue with amnesty campaign and anti-piracy taskforce to engage them and enlighten them. Time has not come to start arresting people, all we do is to give them the right information and they comply. We will continue to educate and recommend the right packages for them.

Do you have plans to stream matches on the internet to handled devices? Are you technically capable of doing that in Nigeria?

Our Group’s approach has always been that we should have all our contents on all the screens, eg TV, laptops, computer, mobile phones; as long as you pay your subscription you get your contents. The network problems in the country are a huge challenge for us to stream contents on mobile devices.

What do you have in store for your subscribers who are football fans that pay premium subscription all through the season?

There are no plans for now; we are trying to engage some of the club fans in Nigeria, like Arsenal Supporters’ Club, Chelsea, Man United, Man City and others. We want to launch a nice programme to ensure that fans are engaged and give them a good experience while watching their clubs play.

We understand that your purview is strictly broadcasting of matches of the Nigerian Premier League. Are there ideas of innovations you can proffer that could help in the growth of the Nigerian League?

We are yet to hold meetings with relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian League as regards that. But we will continue to do more development in the basketball because we engaged with the stakeholders. We will also improve our relationship with the media, sponsors and stakeholders. Let’s wait for the aftermath of the meeting with the stakeholders of the Nigerian League.

What are you doing to minimise the frequency of rain fail?

The Word Cup was premiered without any rain fail issues, even when subscribers were afraid of rain fail occurrence. There was a technical upgrade of our equipment to boost signals. Also, we educate our subscribers of the need to align the connection of their dish up to at least 60 percent so as not to experience rain fail.

I can guarantee that we will have a very good football season of uninterrupted signals. Although, we cannot beat the forces of nature like rain, thunderstorm, and wind from the venue of the matches, we plead with our subscribers to bear with us. But if the weather is clear, be assured of clear signals.

Considering how involved you were in transmitting all the World Cup matches, how are you prepared for the 2014/2015  football season in Europe?

We had a brilliant World Cup broadcast where we invited the big guys in soccer to analyse the matches. We were still preparing for the Commonwealth Games, pre-season tournaments, basketball and other domestic leagues.

We take our responsibility seriously of delivering content not only in Europe, but also in domestic leagues in the best format that it can be delivered. We are very much prepared for the new football season to show the league matches in the best and professional manner.

Can you confidently say that you have made the Nigerian Premier League better?

The Nigerian Premier League is definitely in a better position to grow and it will continue to improve at a faster rate with our involvement. It’s a property that we treasure and see as being up there as part of the leading leagues in Africa. We have to promote our own; this is where the team in Africa comes from and the reigning African champions. We are duty-bound to make sure that the Nigerian League improves.

Are you going to share content with your competitors?

No, we are not going to share content; we have arrangements with some broadcasters to give them some feeds based on the relationships and negotiations we have with them. No plans or agreements with other broadcasters to give them any of our feeds.

Any challenges in streaming the Confederation Cup final and the English Premier League games on August 16th?

^{We will make provisions for all the matches that will be played on that day, maybe take a feed of the match. If the Confederation Cup final match is live, we will show the game.}

Do you see any threat of Ebola to sport in Africa? Since sport is a contact game.

We hope that the deadly virus is contained on time. Its not the first time Ebola has been seen in Africa, but it did not affect the marketing of sport, although relevant authorities moved swiftly and contained its spread. Ebola is the most unfortunate occurrence in Africa, the deadliest virus that we have seen in a long time, and as a responsible corporate citizen, we will definitely play our own part in the fight against this scourge

We have a plan to do some on air messages and public service announcements as quickly as possible. We have engaged with the necessary authorities, and have requested for collaboration in this. We urge people to be careful because Ebola can be transmitted via sweat and bodily fluids. Sweat and sports cannot be disentangled.

The next couple of weeks will determine if the spread of the virus is not properly checked. It’s my hope that the deadly virus will be stopped soonest.

I think the belief and hope is that the virus will be contained. It will not be widespread such that all Africans are said to have Ebola because that will really make life difficult for us. We take comfort in the fact that this is not the first time that Ebola has been seen here and every time, the health authorities have been able to move swiftly and contain the spread of it and we have gone back to our normal lives.

I would like to say that just like the rest of Nigerians and the SA and ECOWAS regions, and in fact the rest of the world, we look to the medical practitioners to guide us and any suggestion that comes, we will cooperate. They have already started with the churches to say, please allow modern medicine to take the lead; let us contain it. If it is found that through sports that is taking place, within region that we are broadcasting, that there is a spread which is countering the strategies of our authorities here, we will engage them enough to comply.

I think Ebola is the most unfortunate, the deadliest virus that we have seen in a long time, and as a responsible corporate citizen, we will definitely play our own part in the fight against this scourge. We have a plan to do some on air messages and public service announcements as quickly as possible. We have engaged with the necessary authorities, and have requested for collaboration in this. We urge people to be careful because Ebola can be transmitted via sweat and bodily fluids. Sweat and sports cannot be disentangled.

Do you think this will affect the marketing value of sport in Africa?

It depends on what happens over the next couple of weeks because it has been there before but it didn’t affect it. We still saw players going, we still saw players coming in and out of Nigeria. We saw Serena Williams and her sister come to play tennis here. We saw people coming to do qualifiers here all around the same time that there was Ebola but now it’s come again and it is my hope that that it will be stopped. Let’s just wish and hope for the best.