The management of StarTimes says flexible billing systems like Pay – As -You – Go will offer affordability to many Nigerians.
The pay – TV entertainment provider, during a virtual press conference with journalists on Friday, said due to its determination to make digital TV affordable to all families, it had introduced the pay – as – you – go options for all bouquets.
Nigerian lawmakers in June had asked cable and satellite television service providers to introduce a pay -as – you – go subscription plan for customers.
The Marketing Manager of StarTimes , Viki Liu , said the price of pay – TV had been greatly lowered, from an average of $ 50 per month to between $ 3 and $ 5 per month.
She noted that whether customers subscribed daily, weekly or monthly to a bouquet, they would have access to the same channels and services.
Liu explained that flexible billing systems were reasonable for people who did not spend reasonable amount of time watching television after subscription.
She said that the sharp drop in naira to dollar exchange rate had forced the brand to adjust some of its bouquet prices upwards from August 1.
Liu , however , assured subscribers of more value without compromising affordability.
“ Over the last couple of months, StarTimes has been adding new and exciting channels, great local and international channels for the viewing pleasure of our teeming subscribers without an additional charge.
“ These channels, including other existing flagship channels and content, were acquired at a cost which StarTimes has continued to bear to cushion the economic pressure on subscribers.”
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Speaking on the challenges that the company is facing in its quest to provide cable TV entertainment to subscribers, the StarTimes marketing manager said that earlier in the year , the Federal Government increased the rate of the Value Added Tax from five per cent to 7 . 5 per cent.
Liu said , “ This increase did have an effect on our cost but in consideration of our customers ’ plight, we continued to bear that extra cost. More recently , the impact of the foreign exchange rate has had an overwhelming adverse effect on our business . Our business is not exempted from the effect of the naira depreciation affecting all businesses in the country. ”
She explained that all foreign content was bought in dollars and the company had been constrained to make some slight review on our subscription rates .
Starting from August 1 , Liu said for DTT ( antenna ) users , basic bouquet subscribers would pay N1 , 700 as against N 1300 monthly to enjoy about 80 exciting channels.
Source: The Punch
