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House of Representatives has ordered the immediate suspension of the recently announced subscription price hike by MultiChoice Nigeria, the owners of DStv and GOtv.
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The Green Chamber also directed an investigation into the frequent price increases imposed by the pay-TV giant. Adopting a motion of urgent public importance raised by the lawmaker representing Oredo Federal Constituency, Esosa Iyawe, at the plenary, yesterday, the House decried the move by MultiChoice to raise subscription rates by about 25 per cent, barely a year after a similar hike in May 2024.
Multichoice had last week announced an increase in the cost of subscriptions for its DStv and GOtv packages. MultiChoice attributed the price increase to rising operational costs.
However, Iyawe expressed concerns that a similar increase in May 2024 sparked public outrage, saying 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;
According to him, due to the dominant position of MultiChoice in pay TV, price increases always have a widespread impact and put consumers under undue pressure.
Adopting the motion, the House called on MultiChoice Nigeria to suspend their proposed increase in subscription prices pending exhaustive investigations. It also mandated its committee on commerce to investigate the arbitrary increase in subscription prices by MultiChoice to ensure the implementation of cost-effective policies in the pay-TV sector for consumers in Nigeria.
The committee is expected to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
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