• Ordered to provide one-month free subscription to DSTV, GOTV customers
• We’ll appeal against ruling — firm
The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal has fined PayTV operator, Multichoice Nigeria, owners of DSTV, GOTV, N150 million for disputing the court’s jurisdiction.
It also ordered the company to provide Nigerians with one-month free subscription to its DStv and GOtv packages.
A three-man panel led by Thomas Okusu gave the verdict yesterday.
The tribunal had previously blocked Multichoice from raising subscription fees without proper notice, based on a lawsuit by Festus Onifade, a lawyer, who claimed the eight-day notice given for the price increase was inadequate.
Onifade had sued Multichoice, accusing it of unjustly increasing subscription fees without one-month notice to customers and leveraging it to seek interim orders.
Counsel for Multichoice contended that previous rulings had settled price regulation issues, while Onifade focused on the inadequate notice rather than the price hike itself; prompting the tribunal to affirm its jurisdiction and rule against Multichoice.
The court subsequently fixed July 3 for hearing of the substantive suit of the plaintiff.
Meanwhile, MultiChoice Nigeria has declared that it is aware of the recent ruling by the CCPT regarding its jurisdiction to entertain a price regulation matter.
It noted that it disagrees with the ruling and would therefore file an appeal against it.
In a holding statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, MultiChoice added: “As the matter is currently sub judice, we are restrained from making further comments.”
