MultiChoice Nigeria, a cable television provider which currently operates on a monthly subscription model, said the pay-per-view model being advocated by lawmakers was not feasible.
MultiChoice made this known during a one-day public organized by the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee investigating “Pay-Tv hikes and demand for the pay-per-view subscription model in Nigeria” in Abuja.
The PPV model allows a subscriber to watch some special one-off events, usually of the high-ticket variety in sports and entertainment, by paying for such events in addition to having an active subscription.
While Pay-As-You-Go accommodates a metered mode of service, where consumers are billed only for the service they consume and not for a fixed period.
John Ugbe, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, said several legal and legislative moves made to compel the firm to operate the pay-per-view model did not work because it was not feasible.
“Whilst it may appear to be a noble intention for this Committee to be concerned over the rising cost of subscription services; however, the Pay-Per-View (PPV) model being canvassed by this Committee will not work either to the benefit of the consumer or the industry.”
“It would appear that this problem is because of some confusion in understanding the basic definitions and distinctions between some of the existing operational business models in telecommunications and pay-tv broadcasting.
“The desire by this Committee to adopt PPV is further challenged by the non-existence of any technology that can detect and or determine the viewers are tuned in per time.
“Once it is impossible to have this knowledge, billings based on ‘per view’ become difficult if not almost impossible.
“It is, therefore, my humble submission, therefore, the distinguished committee that due to the nature of content acquisition and technological limitations that PAYG model is not practical for broadcasting and thus is not practiced and basically cannot be implemented anywhere in the world.”
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