The Managing Director of Metro Digital Limited, operator of the SLTV satellite television network, has offered a subsidised package to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Dr. Ifeanyi Nwafor, in an interview with NAN on Monday, said the
subsidy was the company’s way of ameliorating the economic challenges Nigerians
face daily.
He also said that the cost of the SLTV dish, decoder and
subscription package would remain stable for a period, to encourage other local
players in the satellite television industry.
According to him, in the next two weeks when stock will be
available, the outfit will be offering a special package to NAN staff members.
“We will work very hard and demonstrate to the country that
we can do this business very well and that will encourage other Nigerians to
come in for healthy competition.
“Nigerians will benefit at the end as the subscription will
come down. We are here to let our people know that we are for them; we are not
going to start raising prices because of economic situation.
“We are assuring Nigerians that our prices will be stable
for a reasonable length of time and show example to other Nigerians to come
into the industry to make it more vibrant.”
The managing director, while clarifying the claims of SLTV’s
connection to MultiChoice’s DSTV, said that the paid television industry had
always contributed to the economy of any nation.
He said that Nigerians had been prevented from being part of
the industry by dominant players and there was the need for the government to
put an end to that.
“Paid TV industry is always a major part of the economy of
any nation and if you look around in the Nigerian industry, there is almost no
industry that is actually participating.
“Recently, the government decided to work on that problem by
making some changes to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Code to
outlaw exclusivity.
“Exclusivity to content is one of the things that have
discouraged all the indigenous players that wanted to come on board in the
industry,’’ he said.
He added that the amendment of the NBC code was followed
with a court injunction to further enforce sub-licensing and avail them of
television channels exclusively held unto, in the past.
He explained that SLTV was formed in the wake of what the
government did and the objective was to provide quality programming for
Nigerians.
Mr Nwafor revealed that available channels included content
on football, movies, news, children’s cartoons, and all kinds of programmes at
reasonable prices.
”Right now, we have a package that starts from N2,500, while
the full package is only N5000; we believe that is actually affordable for our
people.
”We have created five local channels and three are in the
major Nigerian languages, while two are in English, based on our local content.
”We are going to be creating more eventually in the next one
or two years and we are looking at establishing a studio where we can engage
creative people for interesting content.
”People are looking for things that they can relate to; they
want familiar content. We are passionate about producing that for our people,’’
he said.
He added that investing in indigenous satellite television
would reduce capital flight and ensure that resources were deployed to develop
infrastructure within the country.
He also said that the company was considering floating other
initiatives like the Pay-As-You-View, which he said would end exploitation of
Nigerians.
He called for the support of Nigerians in ensuring that
indigenous satellite television networks thrived in the country, as they could
create massive employment.
“The industry needs liberalisation and it is our people that
will make it work,” he said.
NAN