It’s no longer news that additional PayTv companies like Kwese and TSTV, aside streaming platforms like Netflix or IrokoTV,  have come on board offering the pay-per-view  model that their competitor said was not possible because there was no technology yet for it.

The streaming platform, IrokoTV, for instance, provides paid-for Nigerian films on demand. It is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie steaming websites, giving instant access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles.

These companies have in a way wooed Nigerians into believing that their products and services are far better than what they were hitherto offered.

Pay-per-view (PPV) is a television service from which subscribers could purchase events to watch via private telecast. Every subscriber gets to watch it at the same time.

It is different from a video-on-demand service, like the one offered by PayTV channels, that allows subscribers watch recorded broadcasts at their convenience just like the streaming platform. Though experts say that the pay-per-view is long overdue but what these companies lack is in the service delivery.

According to a subscriber, Egosa Oshodin, their promise of quality service delivery was all a farce as the service delivery did not commensurate with what he has been getting.

The Executive Secretary of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Ajibola Olude, said: “In a way, they have proven to be a better alternative but they still need to improve on their offerings in the sense that their pricing model needs to be reworked. I mean, it should be pay as you watch.”

Another subscriber, Charlotte Ighile, said when one actually calculates the arithmetic of pay-per-view as being advertised, there is no difference with that of the monthly subscription.

“I sat down and worked the arithmetic and I discovered that nothing changed, we are still under slavery and the best bet is to play along. They should just be honest. Are we really watching pay-per-view? Or the normal  monthly subscription? One promised internet, and I am yet to see it work. A major company promised to give a month free subscription, in addition to two months paid subscription and you would not believe that an agent said it was a gimmick to get people to subscribe on their platform. Nigerians should not be taken for fools.”

But educating Nigerians on what pay-per-view entails, the Managing Director of Multichoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe, said people tend to muddle things up when talking about pay-per-view.

Hear him: “I think, maybe, one of the challenges is that people haven’t really explained what pay-per-view means. I give you one example: If Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather is going to have a big boxing match in the US, it will be available on pay-per-view. So, if you are in the US, you will be paying your monthly subscription, which could be anything, $50, $100, whatever it may be. The managed fight would be on pay-per-view for $70. Boxing match will last for two hours. That fight alone would cost you that much on pay-per-view. So, that is pay-per-view.  Your subscription, which you pay monthly would not give you that match. Guess what we do? We give you that fight as part of your subscription in Nigeria. So the pay-per-view manual in the US indicates that you pay for that one match.”

While the number of PayTv platforms keep increasing by the day, many customers still see it as a mirage that would outlive most of them except the regulator steps into and clears subscribers’ doubts and allays their fears.

Digital TV Research found that MultiChoice had 11.61 million subscribers across satellite TV platform DStv and DTT platform, GOtv, by the end of 2016. Another analyst predicted that this would grow to 17.66 million by 2022. 

Although Startimes, a major competitor, is getting ready for the next evolution in that space, TSTV, Kwese and ConSat, among others, are jostling for recognition and acceptance in an already dominated space.

With mobile and Internet penetration on the up, the market has the potential to change very quickly. And linear services being provided by DTT providers, the question will be how will pay-TV operators compete?

An expert, Stanley Acholonu, predicted that, potentially, there would be a proliferation of Set Top Boxes (STBs). And that Digital  Terrestial Television (DTT )is free compared to a  Direct-To-Home (DTH) service. It is going to be interesting to see who wins that linear war.

“DTT could be a game changer and a threat to pay-TV. It also allows OTT to come into the market and take market share. We have a platform bubble in terms of Video on Demand (VOD). There has to be significant consolidation in the market. I think then VOD will emerge as a significant threat to linear businesses.”

Acholonu added that unlike the telecoms industry, which has a pay-as-you-go model, it is significantly different from the pay-television industry. This is a thing we can all check out. Telecoms service providers do not buy content like pay-television providers do because their business is not that of providing entertainment content.