Nigeria orders MultiChoice to suspend price rises
July 2, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has ordered pay-TV giant MultiChoice to suspend new price rises on its DStv bouquets.
Bad as this news might be there’s also further tough news for MultiChoice in that Nigeria’s Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, confirmed that the Nigerian government is looking to rule that DStv can no longer have exclusive rights to sports events, and in particular football.
The NBC’s acting director general, Armstrong Idachaba, was speaking at a special committee of the country’s National Assembly and called on DStv to suspend the price rises.
Mohammed told lawmakers that he already signed a code to break the monopoly of MultiChoice in the country, saying “our amendments to the Broadcasting Act, will affect the break in the monopoly of MultiChoice. Amendments to Section 628 of the Broadcasting Act, is in our broad national interest.”
Elected representatives to the Assembly saw the price rises as an “affront”.