Anxious Subscribers Await DSTV’s ‘Free Subscription’

MANY DSTV subscribers have said they cannot wait to relish the free subscription order recently slammed on the company.

But they will be disappointed to hear that the pay tv operator has filed an appeal against the ruling of the Competition and Consumer Pro­tection Tribunal which imposed a N150 million fine and “free monthly subscription order” on Multichoice following its preliminary objection challenging its jurisdiction, among other reliefs.

Based on information from sourc­es familiar with the development, “a notice of appeal” has been entered against the recent ruling of the Tribunal.

A three-man panel of the tribunal led by Thomas Okosu had ordered­Multichoice to give Nigerians one-month free subscription on DSTV and GOTV for flouting its interim orders restraining DSTV, GOTV price hike.

The tribunal had restrained Mul­tiChoice from increasing its sub­scription rates pending the hearing and determination of a motion on notice filed by Barr. Festus Onifade. Onifade, who sued Multi-Choice Nigeria Ltd, and the Federal Com­petition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), accused Pay TV of unjustly increasing subscrip­tion fees without one-month notice to customers and leveraged it to seek interim orders against Pay TV.

A three-member tribunal chaired by SaratuShafii had ruled in favour of Onifade by restraining Multichoice in the interim, in the suit marked CCPT/OP/2/2024, restraining the pay TV from going ahead with the impending price increase scheduled to take effect from 1st May 2024 pending the hearing and determina­tion of the Motion on Notice.

But Multichoice lawyer, Moyosore .J. Onibanjo (SAN) had filed a prelimi­nary objection urging the court to decline jurisdiction on the suit filed by Festus Onifade and strike it out because such a price dispute case had been decided before in favour of his client. On his part, Onifade ar­gued that the issue he placed before the court is whether Multichoice Nigeria gave adequate notice in respect of the May 1, 2024 price TV subscription increase, and not price regulation or increase.

In its ruling, the three-man panel chaired by Justice Thomas Okosu held that Section 39(2) of the FCCPC Act states that the tribunal shall have jurisdiction throughout the federa­tion and on all commercial activities aimed at making a profit.