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Despite spending $200m, StarTimes Nigeria still limps

Pascal Oparada

Pay tv in Nigeria has come of age. Competition is getting fiercer. Nigerians are paying exorbitantly for what subscribers in other countries pay little.

In 2010, StarTimes emerged on the scene and promised to disrupt Dstv’s dominance in the market. Nigerians were overjoyed and thronged to various StarTimes centres to have a bite of the digital life. It was not unusual to see low-income households with StarTimes antenna mounted on their various rooftops.

The feeling was electrifying. With an ordinary antenna, Nigerians could have access to almost the same contents and the same quality that high income households and subscribers of other digital satellite subscribers had. The disruption was real.

The competition got jealous and in 2011, Dstv birthed its own antenna-only digital satellite television, GOtv. Reports had it that Dstv sought to acquire StarTimes to rest it due to the stiff competition it gave to its dish-only satellite television, but when the plan could not materialise, it went ahead to develop GOtv as the answer.

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Riding on the success of its parent company, GOtv became an instant hit, giving StarTimes the fight of its life.

Dstv moved most of its prime programmes to GOtv. That was the clincher. Subscribers switched loyalty almost instantly.

StarTimes is in a joint venture partnership with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), a state-owned broadcaster.

The reason for such a partnership is easily understood. StarTimes sought to leverage on NTA’s wide reach. NTA has a presence in the 36 states of Nigeria.

But the company seems to be surrendering to GOtv at a dizzying speed. Its major centres previously brimming over with subscribers now see them come in trickles.

 

Why?

In May this year, StarTimes Chief Executive Officer, David Zhang, said the company has invested over $220 million in StarTimes Nigeria in order to dominate the market and offer quality digital satellite services to Nigerians.

Analysts say the impact of such humongous investments is not felt because of the company’s alliance to a state broadcaster that is controlled by the civil service.

“The civil service in Nigeria is largely inefficient and corrupt. And for a private broadcaster to be so attached to it, the bureaucracy of the service will not allow it to grow, said James Enenche, a journalist and brand analyst.

Good content

Others have blamed the seeming lacklustre performance of StarTimes to poor content. They say while others were busy snapping up deals, the company was losing talents to new rivals like Kwese Tv, which is also gasping for breath under the chokehold of Dstv.

“Content is king and key to the survival of any digital television in any part of the world. Unless StarTimes looks for a way to strike a balance with the content it is offering subscribers, it will continue to hobble under the competition,” Enenche said.

Price offerings

StarTimes price offering is the cheapest in the market.

“But that does not guarantee patronage. In this clime, price is the same thing as quality,” he said.

“People are willing to pay a little extra if they are sure they will get premium service and good content,” he said.

That is what StarTimes is battling to get right. Getting content producers to drive its development seems to be a herculean task.

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The Internet

Presently, StarTimes ON, an online streaming service skillfully developed by the company is available on various app stores for free for subscribers online. Subscribers report of inability to use the app because of the high cost of data.

“StarTimes ON is our online video streaming service. It is the next generation of StarTimes streaming service. It introduces new features such as video on demand (VOD) live TV and lots of movies, sports and entertainment content all on the mobile app and free of charge,” CEO Zhang said.

But Enenche said it goes beyond having a streaming service and asking subscribers to link their smart cards to it. According to him, such measures can only serve short-term.

“The way forward would be for them to scour the globe and provide Nigerians good content. They should strike more deals with other global broadcasters and content developers. It does not matter if the price is a little higher, Nigerians would pay,” Enenche said.

Presently StarTimes has a continent-wide reach with presence in over 30 African countries and 10,000 villages with 1,000 of such villages in Nigeria.

Despite this reach, the company has not been able to break Dstv’s dominance in big markets like Nigeria and South Africa despite subscribers gasping under high fees by Dstv and GOtv.

A spokesperson for StarTimes, Kumi Balogun, The Nigerian Xpress spoke to is tacit on what is the way forward for the company. He offered to furnish the reporter with an email address so he can properly talk on issues raised. He is yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

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