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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, disagreed with Multichoice over the feasibility of the Pay-Pay-View (PPV) by pay television operators in the country.
Chairman, House Ad-hoc Committee on Non-implementation of Pay -As-You-Go (PAYG) subscription model, Unyime Idem, said both the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) confirmed to the panel that satellite television operators were already operating PAYG.
Idem noted that the House was committed to the full implementation of the PAYG /PPV by satellite television operators in the country, so that subcribers can only pay for what they view.
“Our mandate in this committee is simple and we will like toreiterate to you that we fully committed to the full implementation of the Pay-As-You-Go/Pay per View/pay per watch model in Nigeria.”
However, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, who appeared before the ad-hoc committee, in his response, maintained that the PPV model of subscription was not feasible in the country.
He explained that whereas the PAYG was possible in the telecommunication industry because it relied on a two-way communication system, which enables operators to determine when a consumer is connected, the service consumed and duration of connection, same cannot be said of pay television.
Ugbe added that Satellite broadcasters, unlike telecommunications firms, cannot offer Pay-Per-View television services, because satellite broadcasting was a one-way system and did not enable broadcasters to determine when a subscriber is connected and/or watching or what channel is being viewed.
