• Ordered to provide one-month free subscription to DSTV, GOTV customers
• We’ll appeal against ruling — firm

The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal has fined PayTV operator, Multichoice Nigeria, owners of DSTV, GOTV, N150 million for disputing the court’s jurisdiction.
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It also ordered the company to provide Nigerians with one-month free subscription to its DStv and GOtv packages.

A three-man panel led by Thomas Okusu gave the verdict yesterday.
The tribunal had previously blocked Multichoice from raising subscription fees without proper notice, based on a lawsuit by Festus Onifade, a lawyer, who claimed the eight-day notice given for the price increase was inadequate.

Onifade had sued Multichoice, accusing it of unjustly increasing subscription fees without one-month notice to customers and leveraging it to seek interim orders.
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Counsel for Multichoice contended that previous rulings had settled price regulation issues, while Onifade focused on the inadequate notice rather than the price hike itself; prompting the tribunal to affirm its jurisdiction and rule against Multichoice.

The court subsequently fixed July 3 for hearing of the substantive suit of the plaintiff.
Meanwhile, MultiChoice Nigeria has declared that it is aware of the recent ruling by the CCPT regarding its jurisdiction to entertain a price regulation matter.

It noted that it disagrees with the ruling and would therefore file an appeal against it.
In a holding statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, MultiChoice added: “As the matter is currently sub judice, we are restrained from making further comments.”
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