Complaints as Multichoice implements new tariff hike by May 1

Nigerians have expressed anger and bitterness over planned tariff hike by Pay-Tv operator, Multichoice, owners of DStv and GOtv for its services.

Scheduled to take off in Nigeria by May 1, the new rate is a 26 per cent hike on the bouquets. The last increase was about 20 per cent.

Painfully, this marks the third increment since last year, following the initial adjustment implemented on May 1, 2023.

While Multichoice Nigeria was silent about possible factors that triggered the sudden hike, it must be stated that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently revealed that the country’s inflation climbed to 33.2 per cent in March. This is amidst other commodities prices in the market; including beers, food, becerages that have equally sky rocketed.

The new subscription fees were communicated to customers via an email titled “Price Adjustment on DStv and GOtv Packages”.

According to the notice sent, DStv Premium package will see their monthly subscription fee increase to N37, 000 starting from May 1, marking a 25.4 per cent rise from the current N29, 500.

Similarly, the price of the Compact+ bouquet has been raised to N25, 000 from N19, 800 per month, reflecting a 26.2 per cent increment.

DStv has also announced that subscribers on its Compact bouquet will now pay N15, 700, up from N12, 500, representing a 25.6 per cent hike. Meanwhile, those on Confam package will face a 25.6 per cent hike as their monthly subscription rises to N9, 300 from N7, 400.

Under the new pricing, viewers on the DStv Yanga bouquet will be charged N5,100 for their subscription, marking a 21.43 per cent hike over the current N4,200 fee.

For GOtv packages, customers on the Supa Plus package will now pay N15,700, marking a 25.6 per cent rise from the current price of N12,500. Similarly, the Supa bouquet will see its price increase to N9,600 from the current N7,600, among others.

Reacting on X, a user, @mbahdeyforyou, said: “DSTV this is not even fair.”

Dr. Ola (PhD)@Ekitiketekan, wrote: “@DStvNg, first you are completely useless, na only football we dey benefit from you guys, you can repeat movies 100 times a month. I pay 19800 to watch just football but not anymore, GoodBye.”

Another user, 𝕯𝖆𝛎𝖎𝐝@David_pattt, wrote: I’m convinced DSTV is a money laundering scheme, there’s no way 100+ channels can be this boring.

JayNaija@Jaynaija, wrote, “who wants to Buy DSTV Decoder and Dish? I wan sell my own.”

Peter Obi first son@b_pastor1 called for boycott of DStv services. “DSTV and GOTV needs to be boycotted. The increase in subscription is getting out of hand.

The annoying part is they will call you every month to remind you to subscribe and the call comes when you are expecting a very important call.”

Another user, Pastor Who@PastorMarvy, said: “DSTV has done three price reviews in the last six months! This is pure pure extortion and at what point do consumer protection come in?”