The budget-conscious segment of the pay-
Television market in Nigeria has been strident in
its push for a pay-as-watch (PAYW) model. This
push is encouraged by the use of the pay-as-you-
go (PAYG) model in the telecommunications
sector, which also adopted the per-second billing
system after an initial reluctance.
Pay-As-You-Watch, most pay-TV subscribers are
convinced, will free them from monthly contracts
and introduce greater flexibility in how they watch
television. More than that, many are convinced
that the model is already in operation in South
Africa and want its adoption in Nigeria.
There is no such thing as pay-as-you-watch TV in
South Africa. What exists is the monthly contract
model like we have in Nigeria and other countries
of the world.
Pay-as-you-watch is often confused with pay-per-
view (PPV). Are they the same? No. The PPV
model allows a subscriber to watch some special
events, usually of the high-ticket variety in sports
and entertainment, by paying for such events in
addition to having an active subscription.
This means that if pay-per-view was available in
Nigeria, a subscriber would need to pay his/her
monthly subscription to a pay-TV provider and
then pay an additional sum-usually very
expensive-to watch a high-ticket event like the
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquaio fight for
which boxing fans in the US paid $100 on top of
their regular subscription. That is $100 for a two-
hour fight.
In Nigeria, those who watched the fight on DStv’s
SuperSport channel did so at no extra cost. Pay-
per-view also does not exist in South Africa.
A question often asked is: Why can we not have
a pay-as-you-go model for pay-TV as we have in
telecommunications, where subscribers pay for
what they use?
The answer is that both industries operate
differently. Very differently. How? Telecoms
service providers do not buy content like pay-TV
providers do because they are not in the business
of providing entertainment content. What they
buy is spectrum, for which they make a one-off
payment.
Entertainment content is not bought on one-off
basis. Pay-TV providers continually pay for
content, with an upward review in cost when
contracts for such expire. Going by this, the pay-
as-you-go model in telecommunications does not
fit the pay-TV industry. Pay-TV companies are,
by and large, agents or vendors. They do not
always own the content they broadcast. Content
owners do not sell to vendors on pay-as-you-
watch basis, an arrangement that does not
accommodate the vending of such content on a
pay-as-you-watch basis.
Pay-as-you-watch model, if ever adopted, will
hinder rather than help the subscriber because of
its prohibitive cost. It costs about N2,000 to
watch a movie at a cinema. One movie. If a pay-
TV provider charges the same sum for a movie,
subscribers are cooked! Now, if you find the
movie you have gone to watch at the cinema
unexciting after 40 minutes, do you get a refund?
Of course, not. It is the same with a football
match you have paid to watch at a stadium.
Pay-TV companies are also unable to go back to
those who sell them content to demand a refund
with a complaint that subscribers find their
content tedious. Content contracts leave no room
for such.Subscribers often hinge their demand for
a pay-as-you-watch model on the fact they are
billed while not watching, probably when at work
or out of town. The truth is that it cannot be
otherwise.
The technology used in pay-TV broadcast
transmits signals in just one direction: to the
decoder. It is called downlink. It does not send
back to the pay-TV provider. That way, the
provider has no way of knowing whether or not a
subscriber is watching or what he/she is
watching. The only thing a provider can do is to
block the smart card from accessing signal when
subscription has expired.
Pay-as-you-watch is assumed to be a pocket-
friendly usage billing model, but it is not. A
semblance of that exists in the United Kingdom,
where TV and broadband packages are tied
together.
For example, BSkyB’s Now TV offers access to
Sky’s seven sports channels as well as some
entertainment and movie channels on
smartphones, games consoles, tablets and similar
devices. A subscriber need not have an active
Sky subscription to enjoy the service because it is
exclusively internet-based.
Payment, which is daily or weekly, depends on
the package. For the entertainment package, the
sum is £6.99 (N2,380) daily. The movie package
costs £9.99 (N3,400) daily. The sports package
costs £6.99 (N2,380) daily and £10.99 (N3,740)
weekly. The model does not allow a subscriber to
pay for only channel on any of the packages, as
the content is sold in bundles. Now, add the cost
to that of the data you need to view your
favourite content and work out the cost. And in a
country where internet connection can be relied
upon to be unreliable, pay-as-you-watch is not as
appealing as you assume. Remember, you cannot
demand a refund from the subscriber in the event
of patchy internet service.
Posted by Admin David Yungi Cho (formerly known as Paul Yungi Cho) is a Korean Christian minister. He is Senior Pastor and founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), the world's largest congregation, with a claimed membership of 830,000 (as of 2007). Early life He was born on February 14, 1936, in Ulju-gun, now part of Ulsan metropolitan city. The son of Cho Doo-chun and Kim Bok-sun, Cho was the eldest of five brothers and four sisters. He graduated from middle school with honours. Because his father's sock and glove business went bankrupt, he could not afford high school or university tuition. Subsequently, he enrolled in an inexpensive technical high school to learn a trade. At the same time, he began frequenting an American army base near his school, and learned English from soldiers whom he befriended. He mastered English quickly, and became an interpreter for the commander of the army base, and also for the principal of his school. Ra...
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