Confusion and uncertainty is growing after the Nigerian government has reportedly cancelled the recently-extended pay-TV licence of MultiChoice's GOtv service in the West African country, while MultiChoice says the licence for its service stands and has not been revoked.
Nigerian media are reporting that the GOtv licence that was re-issued in March 2019 granting MultiChoice Nigeria another 3-years to run GOtv, has been withdrawn.
According to Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's minister of information and culture, the GOtv licence has been withdrawn due to irregularities.
MultiChoice in a statement, in response to a media enquiry, told TVwithThinus late on Wednesday however that "The MultiChoice Group can confirm that its GOtvlicense in Nigeria was successfully renewed in March 2019 by the relevant authority. It has not been cancelled, revoked or nullified".
Besides running its DStv Nigeria service targeting higher-income customers, MultiChoice Nigeria also runs GOtv Nigeria, MultiChoice's digital terrestrial television (DTT) aimed at lower-income households - and it's this licence that was apparently revoked.
According to Nigeria's Daily Independent newspaper, MultiChoice's GOtv licence was revoked by Nigeria's federal government because of a growing N2.5 billion scandal (R96 million) that has engulfed Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), headed by Modibbo Ishaq Kawu, and the regulator responsible for issuing the recent 3-year licence to MultiChoice Nigeria.
If the licence has been nullified, it means that MultiChoice Nigeria and GOtv Nigeria have become collateral damage as part of broader Nigerian government infighting and a recent investigation that was done by Nigeria's Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) into the NBC.
Lai Mohammed is reportedly locked in an expanding court battle against Modibbo Ishaq Kawu as director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission in Nigeria.
In a letter on 29 March 2019, Lai Mohammed reportedly wrote that "The decision to renew the GOtv licence for 3 years negate the position of the white paper on the DSO (Digital Switch Over), making it not only illegal but a willful disrespect for our laws and national institutions".
"Recall that the ministerial task force on the DSO, which I chair, had specifically ruled that all pay digital terrestrial television (DTT) companies would no longer be allowed to self-carry and would have to go to one of the two licenced signal distributors for that function."
"That decision was made based on the government white paper which puts signal distributors in charge of transmission and separates them from content providers."
"No part of the licence fees paid by MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd. should be touched by the NBC until a negotiated agreement has been signed, subject to my approval," wrote Lai Mohammed.
Nigeria's two signal distributors are Integrated Television Services (ITS) and Pinnacle Communications Limited, meaning MultiChoice Nigeria will have to switch to using one of these two for its GOtv pay-TV content.
