The newly launched and quite affordable satellite dish, TStv has been met by many Nigerians with a great sigh of relief following the donkey years of exploitation by a leading provider. However, there are speculations brewing that TStv might be another fraud.
Here is the opinion of one TStv’s early subscribers:
Obiora Egwuatu writes:
These TSTV guys are actually reckless. I am really surprised that they brought the minister into this.
I believe that this is another MMM. Buyers beware. This is based on the following:
1. Bein sports acquired the EPL, Champions League and Laliga only for MENA (Middle East and North Africa). They do not have the right for Nigeria. DSTV owns the rights for Nigeria till 2019. You cannot give what you do not have. When a new service is launched, you have to wait for the next bidding round to have a shot at acquiring the rights. You cannot jump in the middle and start showing it. Things are not done that way in the PayTV world.
2. A lot of channels listed like CNN, National Geographic, Discovery etc were acquired by DSTV on an exclusive basis for DTH in sub-saharan Africa by DSTV. Channels like Star Movies, MBC2, etc are only cleared for middle east and Asia. I really doubt that they have the rights to those channels. They may show it for one or two months before they are asked to take them off air.
3. I check with a content aggregator on the cost per subscriber for these channels, assuming they can buy the rights, it came out the about 23 USD per month. That is excluding the sports channels. Based on today’s naira exchange rate of 365 naira to a dollar, the cost is 8,395 Naira per subscriber. The content owners globally charge per month for their content. They do not charge per week or part of the month. The content owners dictate the terms. Nobody can pay 8395 Naira and charge 3000 Naira. Not possible.
4. The cost of decoder package is as follows – decoder 25 USD, smartcard 4 USD, dish is 5 USD. Total is 34 USD (12410 naira). If we add shipping and clearing, you can get 15,000 Naira. To charge 5000 Naira for the package, you will need a lot of cheap money from bank to fund the decoder purchase. Buying 15,000 and selling 5000 sounds interesting to me.
5. To do internet via satellite, you need VSAT equipment which is expensive compared to the dish/lnb you need to receive dstv. The minimum cost of vsat equipment should be not less than 50,000 Naira. If you use the traditional dish equipment, you can only receive. You cannot do internet with it. Unless TSTV will supply you 40,000 Naira vsat equipment for 5000 Naira.
6. I went to lyngsat and checked the ABS 3A satellite, I did not see any information about any TSTV channels. Lyngsat is the database of all channels currently on satellite.
7. When you launch a new DTH platform, you start with a test transmission. This allows you to work through some issues that might come up. It also gives people chance to see some of your channels to make sure they are real before committing their money. There is no test transmission from TSTV.
In conclusion, people should ask enough questions before investing their hard earned money. If it is too good to be true, it’s probably is. Let this not be another MMM”. Pls look before you leap.
