Brands/Products
FCCPC: Never Should One-eyed Regulation Return
By Emmanuel Abiodun
A little over a week ago, streaming service provider, Netflix, announced a subscription hike, the third within a year. With the announcement, Netflix’s Premium plan climbed to N8,500 a month from N7,000. The Standard plan moved to N6,500 from N5,500, while the Basic plan rose to N4,000 from N3,500. The Mobile plan became N2,500, up from N2,200. The curious (perhaps not exactly curious) thing is that there was no outcry or subscriber outrage. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which carried on like a pit bull until early last month when a court ruling knocked the stuffing out of it, has become one of those playful sitting room dog breeds.
It may be tempting to think that it was the court ruling that put it on a leash. That, however, would be wrong. It has never been interested in price reviews by other businesses in whatever sector. Contrast that with the public circus that traditionally kicks off whenever MultiChoice, operators of DStv and GOtv, announce price changes. In February, when MutiChoice announced its most recent price adjustments, which took effect on 1 March, the FCCPC almost suffered a stroke caused by rage at what it described as the exploitation of Nigerians.
It tried to block the increases and threatened a bouquet of administrative sanctions if its instructions were not heeded. MultiChoice went to court. On 8 May, the recent Federal High Court ruling made it clear: the FCCPC lacks the authority to intervene in pricing decisions of businesses because the country is a free enterprise space.
The court observed that only the President can regulate prices by law and that any such delegation must be gazetted. In stripping the FCCPC of its claim to set MultiChoice’s fees, the judge also pointed out that price controls, if ever warranted, should apply to an entire industry rather than being wielded like a cudgel against one company. As John Oladapo remarked on X, “While FCCPC painted the case like a win because it was struck out for ‘abuse of court process,’ it wasn’t a win. The court went a step further to insinuate that the FCCPC was after certain industry players and that regulation should be industry-wide, not picking on a specific player.”
The irony is hard to ignore. Telecoms giants such as MTN and Airtel hiked their data and voice-call plans by 50 per cent. Global FMCGs like Coca-Cola and Nigerian Breweries have upped prices repeatedly over the past 18 months. Even essential services such as BRT bus fares, train tickets, and passport renewal fees have gone up, often with little to no public backlash or regulatory intervention.
Yet, whenever MultiChoice reviews its subscription packages, packages that remain among the most affordable in Africa, the company is front-page news, vilified as though it alone should bear the burden of of the worsening business conditions in the country.
To be clear, MultiChoice does not set its pricing in a vacuum. Every channel on DStv and GOtv, from live European football to Hollywood blockbusters, must be licensed for millions of dollars in foreign currency. Those who think the pay television space equals life on the beach should at the fate that recently befell iROKOtv. Once hailed as “Nigeria’s own Netflix,” iROKOtv spent over $100 million trying to build a streaming service exclusively with Nigerian content. Despite initial enthusiasm and heavy external funding, it ultimately shuttered. its operations in Nigeria, citing a market unwilling to pay for subscriptions. If a Nigerian platform cannot sustain itself on local subscriptions alone, what chance does a company relying on licensed content priced in dollars have? Yet iROKOtv’s exit barely merited a footnote in the regulatory debate.
Now, letus dive into the heart of the matter: selective enforcement. The FCCPC’s posturing over DStv’s rate adjustment has been nothing short of hypocritical. Last year, the Nigerian Passport Service raised application and renewal fees with barely a whisper from consumer rights watchdogs. Meanwhile, fuel stations are free to raise petrol prices; electricity tariffs, prices of medications, food items and other household needs have soared unchecked. Private educational institutions are raising fees as they deem fit.
The FCCPC considers those needs inferior to that of watching pay television provided by MultiChoice. Singling out MultiChoice ignores the fundamental economic logic at play: when inflation consistently exceeds 30 per cent, the naira hovers around N1,600 to the dollar, and operational costs, studio productions, satellite transponders, transmission towers, skyrocket, no business can hold prices steady indefinitely. The court ruling was more than a procedural victory; it was a rebuke to the practice of regulatory bullying, which punishes just one business and head-rubs the others.
Nigeria is not Soviet Union 2.0, where strict price regulation inherited from the communist era can be at play. Blanket, arbitrary investigations do little to foster investor confidence; they simply encourage companies to consider exit strategies, just as Netflix has quietly moved many of its headquarters functions out of Lagos, and just as the last iROKOtv executive chronicled in her memoir that “the moment you become a lone target, you start slipping out the back door.”
Let us not pretend that price reviews are somehow unique to pay-TV. The moment Nigerians accept that a free market exists only for some participants, and only when regulators choose to intervene in a theatrically selective fashion, is the moment we consign ourselves to perpetual economic theatre. If the cost of a DStv Premium bouquet, still the lowest among African multichannel operators, represents exploitation, what should we call the 33% petrol bump? Or the 70% rise in local rice prices in 18 months? A consumer-advocacy board that demands justice for one and silence for many forfeits its credibility.
The Federal High Court ruling should serve as a rallying cry: no single company may be scapegoated for broader inflationary pressures. While the FCCPC’s statement triumphantly declared a victory, the real takeaway is that targeting one player undermines trust in the entire regulatory framework. Rather than pontificating from press releases, the commission must shift to measured, transparent investigations across all sectors, ensuring that any decision to challenge price adjustments is grounded in economic data and a true demonstration of monopoly power, not in the optics of populist outrage.
Nigerians deserve equal treatment under the law. If the FCCPC is truly concerned about predatory pricing, it must first show that any company, be it StarTimes, Netflix, or even petrol retailers, holds a dominant position that harms consumer welfare. Until then, we must guard against regulatory grandstanding that punishes the visible and spares the rest. Because if the choice is between a free-market status quo and an unpredictable “anything goes” attitude toward price controls, the verdict is clear: allow businesses the room to operate, innovate, and, yes, adjust their fees when the macroeconomic winds blow cold. A measured, industry-wide approach will fare far better than ritual humiliations aimed solely at MultiChoice.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Canal+, which now owns MultiChoice, a pay-TV firm, has announced its decision to discontinue the streaming service, Showmax.
The company said the Showmax board has made the decision to discontinue the service in the near future.
“This decision reflects our focus on strengthening our overall digital offering and ensuring long-term sustainability in an increasingly competitive streaming environment.
“Importantly, at the moment, there will be no interruption to your current service. You can continue streaming as usual, and no action is required from you at this time,” it said.
It added that it will share further details in the future, including timelines and any future steps, should they be required.
MultiChoice launched Showmax across Africa 10 years ago in August 2015 to compete with the advent of streamers like Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and others, which all became available on the continent and started biting into MultiChoice’s legacy pay-TV subscriber base on DStv and GOtv.
However, it soon faced some challenges and couldn’t hit its target.
In February 2024, MultiChoice, in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, relaunched Showmax, utilising the technology behind the Peacock streaming service.
The investment, which was pegged at over $300 million, still did not bear the expected fruit, with other streaming giants seeing growth over the years.
With Canal+’s takeover and its aggressive cost-cutting moves, it was no doubt that Showmax got the axe.
Regardless, it said, “Streaming remains central to our strategy. We will continue to invest in premium content, technology innovation and partnerships to deliver the best possible entertainment experience to our customers.”
Canal+ is looking to cut a combined €400 million by 2030, which will affect content.
NBCUniversal has a 30 per cent stake in Showmax as a joint venture. In its last annual results before the Canal+ takeover, MultiChoice revealed that Showmax’s trading losses had worsened by 88 per cent while revenue significantly declined.
According to the company, “The decision to axe Showmax was made by the Showmax board and reflects the continued focus of MultiChoice, a Canal+ company, on financial discipline and investment optimisation, in an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive global streaming environment.”
Since Canal+, as part of its agreement to take over MultiChoice, isn’t allowed to get rid of any staff for a period of three years, MultiChoice won’t let any Showmax staff go but will reassign them to other positions within the broader company.
MultiChoice has already started to quietly rebrand Showmax Originals as Africa Magic, M-Net, kykNET and Mzansi Magic Originals, with original series that will transition to these various DStv linear TV channels on the MultiChoice pay-TV platform.
Showmax’s closure comes two years after Amazon MGM Studios shocked Nigeria and South Africa’s creative community in January 2024 when it announced that it would stop commissioning any new local original content in Africa, and also ended already-existing development deals with a dozen production companies.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Marketing Manager of a leading bleach brand in Nigeria, Hypo Bleach, Mr Adebayo Adeyemo, has condemned the presentation of the brand as a beverage for trends, jokes, or views by influencers and bloggers.
In a statement, Mr Adeyemo said Hypo Bleach was formulated to “remove stains, whiten your white fabric, deodorise and kill 99.9 per cent of germs” and not produced as a “drink.”
“We have observed people seeming to have fun creating and sharing videos and AI-generated images designed to make Hypo look like a beverage.
“Your health and safety are serious business. We want to be unambiguous: those images are fabricated, that framing is false, and anyone encouraging others to consume Hypo, even as a joke, even for views, is putting lives at risk. It is not something to consume for the sake of trends,” the Marketing Manager stated.
He further said, “To every influencer, blogger, and content creator. Your reach is real; so is your responsibility. A trend that ends in ill-health is not a trend worth starting.”
“To every young Nigerian seeing this content, you do not have to prove anything to anyone. Not online. Not offline. Not ever. If someone is pressuring you to try this, that is not a dare. That is harm.
|If you or someone you know is struggling emotionally or feeling pressure they cannot handle, please reach out to someone you trust.
A guardian. A counsellor. A healthcare professional. Asking for help is not a weakness; it is a strength.
“Also, we urge people to prioritise their mental health. Evaluate the quality of your conversations with people. Should you notice inconsistencies in their thinking, encourage them to seek professional help. Depression is real and should be treated with utmost concern. Let’s keep social media fun, but safe,” Mr Adeyemo added.
By Dipo Olowookere
A conference designed to examine how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping crisis communication, institutional response systems, governance frameworks, and reputational risk management is slated to take place on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Lagos, at 10 am.
The event, planned by a renowned Public Relations (PR) firm, CMC Connect LLP, is themed Crisis Management in the AI Milieu: New Threats, Smarter Responses.
It is an offshoot of the company’s flagship industry initiative, Crisis Management Advocacy Month, scheduled to be held throughout March 2026.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, is expected to deliver the keynote address, while the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris Malagi, is the Special Guest of Honour.
Earlier in the month, the Vice President for Corporate Communications and CSR at Airtel Africa, Mr Emeka Oparah, will headline a closed-door media workshop convened exclusively for senior media executives in Lagos.
The 2026 edition will also feature strategic collaborations with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) through its Monthly PR Clinics in both the Lagos and Abuja Chapters, where the Senior Corporate Communications Analyst at CMC Connect LLP, Ms Affiong Edet, will deliver a thematic presentation aligned with this year’s focus.
The initiative will also partner with the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice through its weekly webinar series to interrogate the intersection of AI, Crisis Management, and the Law.
“Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally altered the crisis landscape. Crisis Management Advocacy Month 2026 is intentionally designed to convene cross-sector leaders to interrogate emerging risks, strengthen institutional preparedness, and promote smarter, ethical response architectures in an AI-driven environment,” the Project Coordinator, Ms Bright Emmanuel Okon, commented.
Also, the Lead Partner of CMC Connect LLP, Mr Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, said, “In today’s digital ecosystem, crises evolve at unprecedented speed. Institutions must move beyond reactive communication toward intelligent crisis architecture. Crisis Management Advocacy Month represents our commitment to advancing national and institutional resilience in the age of AI.”
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