In August 2003, against all odds, telecommunications company, Globacom, rolled out. It seemed like an uphill task knowing that Econet and MTN were already in operation.
Globacom had to get it right and in doing so, they had to be different and innovative. That was exactly what happened. First, they launched the per-second billing method, which the other GSM companies had made to look impossible. Next, they slashed down tariffs from what their competitors were offering, came up with unique value added services like SMS to email and email to SMS and most importantly good customer service. We can see the giant strides the organisation has recorded in the last five years. In less than a year, their subscriber base grew to be almost at par with those their competitors.
What is all this about? Before the football season started I received a text message from HiTV, the cable TV company asking “subscribers to pay before June 30....” That message prompted me to write this article.
When Nigerians heard that HiTV was hitting the market, we were very happy and this was for the fact that, like Globacom, it is an indigenous company. Secondly, we were excited at the fact that DSTV, the South African company, which had dominated the market would be given a run for its money. I looked forward to the competition.
My HiTV subscription was off from May and re-connected at the start of the football season in August, which is the case with many others that I know. It’s so disappointing that after two years, the only thing HiTV still have to offer Nigerians is football. Good strategy but DSTV has not been moved in any way; as a matter of fact, most people I know who have HiTV still have their DSTV and in most homes that I know there is only DSTV. There is still so much work to be done by the Nigerian company. I hear people say they don’t plan to get their product until they “get their act together”.
From its mode of payment to customer service, the bouquet, the office location, and even the clarity and sound, HiTV cannot be compared to DSTV, whose signals are High Definition (HD) quality; (high-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution) which yields a better quality image than standard television does.
Problems with quality
Surely, every business has its challenges but after three years, some things should no longer be heard of. The last straw for me was the penultimate match of the 2008/2009 season. I was desperate to see my beloved Manchester United lift the trophy at Old Trafford. It was the game against Arsenal, which saw the Red devils clinch the title for the third time in a row. Anyway, my mistake was renewing the subscription on the same day. The game started at 1.30pm I sent someone to pay at 9am and I still ended up dashing to a nearby sports bar, with 20 minutes to the end of the match. I only managed to catch the trophy presentation.
The most convenient way to make payment is via GTBank. It means you can only pay during the week and if your subscription expires, it takes a minimum of four days to get reconnected. The second option is to go all the way to their office in Yaba and battle it out. Trust me; you don’t want to go that route. Unless you pay for the whole year, it saves you the stress but then in this period of global melt down, how many of us can afford to do that?
Even though HiTV now has UEFA Champions League rights, there hasn’t been any improvement. After carrying out a survey recently, I found out that football fans are still displeased. Sound production is bad, there is no commentary and no information; you can’t tell what is showing and when. Until very recently, you couldn’t see the scores and time when a game is on.
Someone recently said “watching soccer on HiTV is like crayon drawing.” Comparing the picture quality. Someone else said, “HiTV have a whack bouquet you only look forward to using them on soccer days.”
Exclusive rights unnecessary
I really don’t understand why HiTV or DSTV should have exclusive rights to anything. They should both compete in all areas and then we the customers will get better quality and price. Quite frankly, the only other thing that I enjoy on HiTV after soccer days is 90 minutes on Mondays with Deji Tinubu, Omotoyinbo, and Tola Badekale but then I get to hear them talk every morning on Cool FM. So on television, I continue to stick with Thomas Mlambo, Terry Paine, Gary Bailey and our own Idah Peterside though we don’t get to see much of them anymore.
Like Globacom, HiTV is “our” own; we need to support them but they need to prove themselves first by giving us value for our subscription.
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