Nigerian government moves to support TStv, grants three-year tax relief to company

shakirudeen taiwo

October 2, 2017 8:57 PM

This is a move by the government to ensure survival of local companies and placed them at a favourable position to compete with foreign players.

The Nigerian government has granted the newly launched Pay TV operator in the country, TSTV a three-year tax holiday.

These tax reliefs also cover the dividends earned by the company's shareholders and capital gains of the firm.

According to local media, this information was disclosed by the country’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed during the dinner to unveil the new company.

Mr Mohammed said the tax reliefs were in line with the Pioneer Status recently granted to the creative industry by the government.

“I want to assure that this administration will continue to assist you and other investors in creating the enabling environment for businesses to grow.”

“The important thing about what Echefu has done today is that he has redefined the pay per view television industry and from today that industry will never remain the same again.”

The Pay-tv market in Nigeria and Africa is dominated by MultiChoice, the operator of DSTV and GOTV.

In recent times, Nigerians have expressed displeasure with the pricing model of MultiChioce. Since there are no viable alternatives, fewer results were achieved in pushing the South African company to adopt a pay per view pricing model.

As regards this, the minister stated that: It is a great opportunity for me to be the one to unveil TStv because just like a Nigerian made history by crashing the cost of telephony in Nigeria, I am glad that another Nigerian is now coming forward to crash the cost of Pay TV.”

“What he has done is to democratise the media and entertainment industry and make it possible for even a peasant farmer to have access to the best entertainment and news in the world," he said.

TStv Africa is a wholly Nigerian based Pay TV operator with a special pricing subscription model which allows viewers to pay for only what they have consumed.

With the introduction of this new Pay-Tv operator and the adaptive pricing model offered, many analysts have predicted a massive market share loss by MultiChioce Nigeria.

Many have expressed the fear that regulatory challenges and other issues may be used to curtail the operations of the new company, but with the declared government support, it seems Nigerians will now have a value for their money.

shakirudeen taiwo

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