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Thursday 26 March 2015

Zambians launch social media campaign to protest DStv price hikes

Following an announcement by Multichoice Zambia to increase its service charges in the country, DStv subscribers have taken to social media to launch a campaign to boycott the digital satellite TV providers. The fees will be increased by as much as 30% from Wednesday, 15th April.

In protest, subscribers have launched a social media campaign called 'Zambians Against High DStv Rates', calling for people to sign a petition for the standardisation of rates and not to pay their DStb bills in April. Currently there are 2300 people signed up.

The new DStv Zambia subscription fees will see the premium bouquet increase from K500 to K631, with an additional K79 for PVR access fee.

DStv said that the upward adjustment is necessary due to the depreciation of the Kwacha which the company uses as a benchmark to determine the local prices.

At present the Facebook page has accumulated 4500 likes since its creation on 12 March and the numbers keep steadily increasing.


One subscriber posted: "The rate is twice as much as what Premium subscribers pay in South Africa. Don’t be taken for a ride. Our income is precious. Don’t pay for DStv in April." They further went on to talk about not seeing tangible Corporate Social Responsibility programmes from the company as compared to other countries like South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya. The local newspapers and radio stations have also picked the story and reported it.

TBWA Vox Africa are anxiously waiting to see what happens come Wednesday, 15 April and it also will be interesting to see whether the Competition and Consumers Protection body in Zambia, (which governs consumers protection), or the Ministry of Information (that regulates broadcasting), will do anything about the hikes.

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