Lagos – As the commercial launch of TStv, Telcom
Satellite TV, in Nigeria beckons, other pay TV providers, such as
DStv/GOtv and StarTimes, are believed to be troubled.
Information gathered that their anxiety may have arisen from the new operator’s introduction of the Pay-as-You-Consume model. Other pay TV providers had consistently argued that the model was not
possible to implement in Nigeria on the grounds that they bought the
contents they relay as a whole and not in bits.
TStv will roll out its Pay-As-You-Consume plan on October 1, 2017,
and industry watchers predict that it would win over a lot of customers
from its competitors.
Analysts have expressed the hope that TStv would, indeed, redeem its
promise of offering unique services, and thus break the MultiChoice’s
monopoly in the business in Nigeria.
The move by the incoming operator is aimed at attracting more
subscribers to their service, which is considered to have been tailored
along the yearning of Nigerian pay TV customers.
When the new plan begins, it is expected to replicate the
revolutionary feat Globacom made in the telecoms industry through the
introduction of per second billing (PSB).
Prior to the implementation of PSB by Glo, MTN and Econet (now
Airtel) had insisted that it was not possible to operate the PSB until
after seven years, but Glo made it possible immediately it hit the
market in 2003.
TStv, which is a DTH pay TV, will be offering 200 rich blend of local
and international channels and packages for entertainment, including
news, sports, kids, health, etc.
These will be distributed on the ABS 3A Africa beam, located at 3 degrees west, beginning with 100 channels.
The TV will also show live sports like Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Europa League and so much more.
Some sport channels on TStv Africa are Sport 1-10, Fox Sport HD, and Ts Sports. Running on 4.5G network, every subscriber will get 20G of data for N3,000 monthly.
The data can also be used for video calls conferences with camera and
WiFi. The TStv decoder will have 50GB hard disk to record TV programmes
and a pause/play function.
Bright Echefu, Managing Director of TStv, during the signing of the
multi-transponder agreement with their ABS partner, said their services
would offer viewers the experience of HD and SD video, internet
services, broadband, TV and radio, at a very affordable rate.
According to him, “What makes the project unique is that it would
start with 100 channels of local, regional and international programmes
in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ghanaian, Sierra Leonean, Liberian languages,
among others.
It would also provide news, entertainment and education content.
Echefu noted that TStv has the right content and premium product to satisfy the growing demand of Nigerians.
“It would assist ABS take Nollywood and Sport to great heights. Their
sport channels is the bomb! EPL, La liga, and Champion League are
amazing!
“With TStv, you don’t need to pay subscription monthly or periodically. You pay as you consume.
“It is the first Nigerian TV to launch a pay-as-you-consume, so you can pause your subscription whenever you are travelling.
“It is just N5000 for the decoder and dish and subscription prices
ranges from N200, N500, N1,000, N1,500 and N3,000, respectively”, he
said.
TStv Africa aims to cover the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), but will launch first in Lagos, Abuja, Port
Harcourt, Owerri and Kano.
Multichoice Nigeria, a subsidiary of South Africa-based Multichoice
Africa, owners of DStv and GOtv pay television, made an entry into the
Nigerian market in 1994.
DSTV was a luxury brand for a long time which many Nigerians could
not afford because it was the only dominant player in the pay TV market
until StarTimes, CONSAT (Continental Satellite) and others came on
board.
Observers said the move by TStv is going to affect DStv and other pay TV operators significantly.
Speaking with INDEPENDENT, Eniola Ogunsanya, a DStv customer in
Gbagada, Lagos, said the new operator would revolutionise the pay TV
market.
According to him, “I believe many Nigerians will be very happy when the Pay-As-You-Consume model is introduced by any operator.
“DStv and others have exploited us enough. In this time of recession,
Nigerians will not wait any further to migrate to the new pay TV that
will offer this type of service.”
On his part, Obiora Onyekwere said the development would seriously
affect DStv, StarTimes and others who have failed to introduce the
pay-as-you watch model like the one being expected from TStv.
“Many of us are being cheated by these operators. Whereas they have
been telling us that it is not possible to operate pay-as-you-watch
model, TStv is set to start with Pay-As-You-Consume.
“Several times, I could only watch the television for an average of
between seven and ten days in a whole month because of light challenge.
“Yet, when it is thirty days, they always terminate my service. I
think the new operator will address this type of anomaly”, he noted.
Other satellite TV services many Nigerians have been exploring include DSTv, GoTv, MyTv, Joy Tv, among others.
SOURCE: Justus Adejumoh
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