Broadcasting company, Multichoice, has jacked up the prices of its offerings in Nigeria days after announcing a $72m loss in its financial statement for the third quarter of the year.
Checks on the company’s reviewed price list showed a 20 per cent hike in the company’s packages across the board.
With the latest price hike, the DStv Premium package increased by 20.4 per cent from N24,500 to N29,500. Similarly, the DStv Compact+ has gone up by 19.2 per cent from N16,600 to N19,800 while the Compact package increased by 19 per cent, from N10,500 to N12,500.
The Comfam package moved up by 19.2 per cent from N6,200 to N7,400. The latest hike made it the second time the company would implement an upward review of prices within a six-month period.
Multichoice had increased the cost of its products in May. In this round of price increases, the N3,500 rise from N21,000 to N24,500 represents a 16.7% increase in the DStv Premium package.
Similarly, the DStv Compact+ package went up by 16.5 percent (N2,350) from N14,250 to N16,600. The DStv Compact package also increased by 16.7 percent from N9,000 to N10,500. The DStv Confam package, previously priced at N5,300, went up by 17 percent to N6,200.
An inside source claimed that in addition to dealing with a wide range of issues like taxes and logistics, the company also had to deal with the disastrous effects of the naira’s ongoing devaluation.
The source said: “Yes. We have increased our rates. We buy content in dollars but earn in naira. If we take off a channel or stop acquiring content that our customers are used to, we will be slammed.
“We buy diesel. We pay taxes. Even before this year, with the dollar and fuel subsidy removal. We pay billions in licensing fees. We operate several offices. We have to pay staff.”
The most recent increase follows Multichoice’s announcement of a third straight semi-annual loss, which it attributed to ongoing power shortages in South Africa and problems with foreign exchange in Nigeria.
