Media analysts describe CPC action on DStv as aberration
Even as Consumer Protection Council, CPC insists that raising product price by DStv was illegal, media analysts also asserts that CPC action of stopping the price increase through action is an aberration in a free market economy.
The media analysts who spoke to BusinessDay following the battle between CPC and DStv over product price increase also questioned the Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria frequent actions in attempting to regulate Pay TV fees in a free market like Nigeria.
Bolaji Abimbola, the CEO of Indigo, a PR agency based in Lagos described CPC price intervention in DStv business as an aberration and abnormality. He asked CPC to concentrate in protecting consumer on quality of service and ensure that promotions on products are according to the law but not on price.
Bolaji who works for some multinational companies in the FMCG sector said that there are factors that add up to cost which CPC may not understand. According to him, since there are options in the Pay TV market as in other services or products, he said subscribers have the choice to switch over to another operator if they don’t like a particular service. “CPC cannot simply tell an operator not to increase price in a free market system”, he said
Another media analyst asked whether “CPC is turning itself into a price control board”. He reminded CPC that Nigeria is operating a free market enterprise where consumers are disposed to product if they like the price. “I can’t understand why CPC is concentrating its efforts on DStv while it has not tried to regulate price of FMCG operators products and other services”, the media expert said.
On the heels of this development, Celestine Okeke,a Lead Partner,Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Advocacy and Support Initiative(MSME-ASI) was quoted as saying that the CPC should have taken engagement with the Multi-choice company rather than the ‘Nail and Hammer’ approach it applied.
“If you don’t like DSTV you can move over to other cable network operators. What the CPC could have done is to get the Presidency to discuss further with the DSTV and not using the ‘Nail and Hammer’ approach”
The recent action is not the first regulatory intervention on the operations of DStv by CPC.
In October 2015, officials of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in company of other government officials raided the head office of MultiChoice in Lagos owners of DStv.
According to reports, the raid saw CPC officials leaving with laptop computers and important documents about the company’s operations. The raid was said to be connected with the hitch that developed in the CPC’s ongoing investigation then into MultiChoice’s consumer satisfaction initiatives.
The hitch was said to have been occasioned by CPC’s demand that MultiChoice should hand over personal information of its subscribers as well as its exclusive contract in Nigeria.
The MultiChoice team, led by Managing Director, John Ugbe, was said to have drawn the attention of the CPC to the fact that the company owes its subscribers a duty to protect their personal information.
The company, added sources, took time to explain that releasing sensitive information about subscribers, as requested, would amount to a breach of the trust subscribers reposed in the it when they signed up to its services.
MultiChoice representatives were quoted to have expressed readiness to cooperate with the CPC in its effort to ensure that subscribers obtain improved customer satisfaction, but rejected the demand that verges on violation of subscribers’ confidentiality.
After the investigation, the two organisations resolved the issue and addressed a joint press conference in July 2016 where CPC re-stated that its statutory role is to ensure that the rights of the Nigerian consumers are not trampled upon by brand owners, and not to strangulate businesses.
Again the Consumer Protection Council, it would be recalled had recently gone to court, and lodged a complaint on the recent hike in price by the Multi-choice company, as the court granted Interim Order Prohibiting Increase in Dstv or GOtv Subscription Rates Pending further hearing and order of Court.
Daniel Obi