The CEO of MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, in an interview with Thisday has said that the company cannot put in place pay per watch subscription in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians want MultiChoice to institute a pay-as-you-watch regime, which they claim to be available to MultiChoice subscribers in South Africa and some other countries.
Until the entry of Globacom into the telephony market, another South African firm had MTN CommunicTions had insisted that per second billing was not possible in Nigeria.
Ugbe said Multichoice was considering all viable options to provide our subscribers with the best and most affordable way to consume entertainment.
“At the moment, we provide our services through a model that is in use around the world that allows us to take advantage of the economies of scale and provide an aggregate service that reduces the costs for all subscribers.
“I can confirm that no other country under MultiChoice is providing its pay-TV services through a “pay as you watch” model. People often confuse “Pay as you watch” model with “Pay Per view”, where essentially, subscribers pay specifically for big ticket events in addition to their monthly subscriptions. This effectively even makes the subscriptions more expensive,” he says.
“We have opted for a more economic model where our subscribers have access to these big tickets events as part of their monthly subscriptions. We will always strive to bring the best entertainment in the most affordable way and also continue with our innovation.
“An example is our Catch up service which is our Video on demand service, that allows you to watch your best programmes at your convenience and our Box office service which lets you download the latest blockbuster releases with your PVR decoder and online from your couch at home,” he added.
Many Nigerians believe that the Pay Tv firm is exploiting lack of effective competition within that sector to flee
