DSTV Upgrades: We were not consulted – Parliament’s Information and Communications Committee

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Information and Communications, has disclosed that it was never consulted during negotiations by the joint committee set up to manage the Communication Ministry-MultiChoice Ghana price reduction stand-off.

This follows a report by the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovation, on Monday, September 29, announcing some expected significant cuts in DSTV package prices, following the conclusion of the committee’s price evaluation exercise.

During a phone-in session on CITI FM on Monday, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Information and Communications Committee, Charles Owiredu revealed that the Parliamentary Committee received no invitations from the joint committee during negotiations with MultiChoice Ghana, and noted that the Committee decided to get involved after indications that no invitation was forthcoming.

“I can tell you on authority that this committee was never consulted, actually, we opted to get ourselves involved to try and settle this, but then nothing was extended to us, no invitation was extended to us, all the meetings that were held, were held without us, so I can tell you on authority that we were not consulted,” he said.

Background

On Monday, Communication Minister Sam George announced the outcome of the stakeholder committee set up to review DSTV pricing models and create a roadmap for reducing package prices.

According to Sam Goerge, Ghanaian DSTV subscribers will enjoy package prices reductions ranging from 33% to 50%, effective Wednesday, October 1, following a new agreement between government and MultiChoice Africa, the operators of DSTV.

The Minister disclosed that the new pricing structure will have subscribers upgraded to higher packages at no extra cost. Accordingly, customers on the Padi bouquet at GH¢59 are expected to receive the Access bouquet at GH¢99, while Access subscribers paying GH¢99 will be upgraded to a GH¢190 Family package.

Subscribers on the Family package will be upgraded to Compact at GH¢380, with Compact customers expected to be elevated to Compact Plus, while Compact Plus subscribers will be upgraded to DSTV’s flagship Premium package.