…while Canal+ is trying to sort its new status in Africa, what happens in the interim? Do we have other operators, for instance, in the Nigerian market, who will take advantage of the situation to make something new and acceptable to the subscribers? Or will they always use the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to try to eat away at the one they call the dominant operator, but who has now changed ownership?
WHEN they look at the weariness of life around them, my people would always say, no condition is permanent. Meaning that the fellow struggling for the crumbs from the master’s table can become the master in no time by dint of hard work or with a destined swing of metamorphosis.
Master playwright Ola Rotimi captured it more dramatically in Hopes of the Living Dead. In a veiled reference to the imminent departure of Dr Ferguson from the leprosy research section of the Port Harcourt General Hospital, the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) mocked the lepers who were being used in the experiment, “things will not be the same by next month.” It was an ominous hint.
The story which played out in 1924 was largely a humanitarian effort that went awry. It wasn’t business like the MultiChoice story. Dr Ferguson was nicknamed the mad Scotsman for keeping lepers in a normal hospital. His departure changed the story and the fortunes of the lepers. No condition is permanent or things will not be the same by next month.
For MultiChoice, the statement applies in full measure. The African payTV behemoth was sold for $3bn to a French group, Canal+, which process was completed in November. No emotions here. Purely business. There was a product. And there was a buyer. The deed is done.
The implications go far beyond the conclusion of the transaction, perhaps beyond projections and expectations. Things will no longer be the same again! There are things about content acquisition which I took for granted that Canal+ should know, being a big broadcaster, a content maker and aggregator. Either by a freak of accident or pure coincidence, by next month things will no longer be the same again.
You may wake up in the new year and find out that the name has changed. There is no hint about that yet. The more likely thing is that Canal+ will want to keep a major brand name, which for years dominated payTV on the continent, but may do some tweaking to illustrate ownership change.
What is becoming clear at the moment is that content packaging and presentation may have to change. There are already some suggestions that Canal+ may rely heavily on local content to woo subscribers or boost its subscriber base. Why do they need to woo a market that looks captive?
Before the sales, MultiChoice was bursting at the seams. Incessant subscription increases and inability to manage relationships in operating markets were putting pressure on subscribers who took a scram. The subscription base plummeted on the continent by about 1.8 million with 1.4 million of that coming from Nigeria.
For any subscription business, the loss should be troubling. Unfortunately, there were also some misunderstandings with some local authorities, like the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), leaving MultiChoice with some bruising fines. It’s either the dominant status of MultiChoice was making it giddy with arrogance or the organisation simply lost the plot.
All that is in the past now. MultiChoice has a new owner who has the unfortunate responsibility to clean up those unfortunate business chasms. It will have to approach the market with some caution and carrots to attract subscribers.
Unfortunately, there is a nexus of issues that Canal+ will have to quickly deal with to retain a market hegemony. While industry watchers are keenly awaiting the outcome of negotiations between Canal+ SA and Warner Bros. Discovery over the right costing of some key channels, they also know that the game may climb to a different level were Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
Without doubt Netflix remains a global competitor to Canal+. With such a purchase, some key channels, including CNN, will be bundled into the process; will Netflix be willing to release some of these key channels to a competitor? The answer will remain in the realm of conjecture until reality crowns the negotiations.
There remains the issue of intense competition from streaming companies, telcos and some other over-the-top players. Canal+ will also need to do some housekeeping with regulators in different jurisdictions in order to stem unsavoury regulatory challenges. There will be movements and alignments in the market; I am comfortable to think that Canal+ has the market experience and expertise to deal with such challenges.
But while Canal+ is trying to sort its new status in Africa, what happens in the interim? Do we have other operators, for instance, in the Nigerian market, who will take advantage of the situation to make something new and acceptable to the subscribers? Or will they always use the Nigeria Broadcasting Code to try to eat away at the one they call the dominant operator, but who has now changed ownership?
Across the continent, Star Times has significant market power, but in Nigeria, where it is the second largest operator, it has less than 5 million subscribers. With its bullish efforts at the market, creating and focusing on affordable receive-equipment to attract subscribers to its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Digital Satellite Television (DTH) platforms, people are expecting Star Times to do well by creating quality channels that are not only acceptable but capable of fighting for a space in the payTV market.
However, I want to observe that Star Times hardly saloons its channels and that makes it difficult for people to even veer to the operator as an existing option. It obviously has to do better because competition could be more intense in the months ahead.
Silver Lake Television (SLTV), Metrodigital is another. At the launch of the platform operated by Metro Digital, early 2024, Dr Ifeanyi Nwafor, promoter of the business, who hailed the renewed efforts by the government to breathe life into the sector, observed ruefully that “The payTV industry in Nigeria has not actually witnessed robust and accelerated growth since inception, as has been witnessed in other places. The reason is the policies and legal frameworks that shape the practice and attitude of the industry participants.”
Nwafor lamented that such an attitude “allowed the dominant players to introduce monopolistic practices that over the years prevented innovation and growth and led to poor quality of service delivery.”
He was commended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, for embarking on a project that aligns with the vision of this government.
There are other players which include: Trefoil Network Ltd (OurTv), Moplex Naija Ltd (Naija TV), Telecom Satellite (TSTV), Luftreiber Ltd, and Strong Technology (MyTV).
However, I want to observe that the DSTV business is a big business that demands lots of study and understanding. The purview goes beyond emotions, sentiments and boundless patriotism because it demands a lot of international attention, relationships and complex negotiations to strike deals.
Content is king and owners and users give it that respect and royal value. While in this part of the world we must learn to monetise our content and allow professionals to handle transactions, we must also learn to value and respect the position of those who stand their ground because of the contracts surrounding the content they have acquired.
But for the time being, we need to look at the industry closely. Canal+ has come to stay. That is as true as tomorrow remaining a certainty. But it will struggle before it starts to fly. So there is a window for Nigerian players to get into the business very strongly. But they must keep their eyes more on the ball and less on the activities of competitors in order to maintain their focus.
- Aihe writes from Abuja