The tribunal had ruled in favour of Festus Onifade, who sued Multichoice Nigeria Ltd and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
The Multichoice Nigeria has filed an appeal against the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal's ruling.
The appeal is in response to the tribunal's decision to impose a N150million fine and "free monthly subscription order" on Multichoice.
Multichoice had challenged the tribunal's jurisdiction, among other reliefs, in its preliminary objection.
The tribunal had ruled in favour of Festus Onifade, who sued Multichoice Nigeria Ltd and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
SaharaReporters had reported that Onifade had accused Multichoice of increasing subscription fees without providing a one-month notice to customers.
The three-man panel of the tribunal led by Thomas Okosu, had also ordered Multichoice to provide Nigerians with a one-month free subscription on its DStv and GOtv platforms for floating its interim orders restraining DSTV, GOTV price hike.
Multichoice has expressed its disagreement with the ruling and has filed an appeal against the ruling.
The Pay TV multinational company has filed “a notice of appeal” against the decision of the Tribunal.
Onifade, who sued Multi-Choice Nigeria Ltd, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), accused Pay TV of unjustly increasing subscription fees without one-month notice to customers and leveraged it to seek interim orders against Pay TV.
A three-member tribunal chaired by Saratu Shafii had ruled in favour of Onifade by restraining Multichoice in the interim, in the suit marked CCPT/OP/2/2024, restraining the pay TV from going ahead with the impending price increase scheduled to take effect from 1st May 2024 pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.
But Multichoice’s lawyer, Moyosore .J. Onibanjo (SAN) had filed a preliminary objection urging the court to decline jurisdiction on the suit filed by Festus Onifade and strike it out because such a price dispute case had been decided before in favour of his client.
On his part, Onifade argued that the issue he placed before the court is whether Multichoice Nigeria gave adequate notice in respect of the May 1, 2024 price TV subscription increase, and not price regulation or increase.
In its ruling, the three-man panel chaired by Justice Thomas Okosu held that Section 39(2) of the FCCPC Act states that the tribunal shall have jurisdiction throughout the federation and on all commercial activities aimed at making a profit.
Besides, the tribunal held that the claimant’s instant suit is not questioning the Multichoice price hike as claimed by Onibanjo but the illegality of his client’s 8-day notice to the customers.
The tribunal dismissed Multichoice’s preliminary objection for disobeying its interim orders and subsequently imposed a 150 million administrative penalty on Multichoice as well as a one-month subscription order against Pay-TV.
Speaking, immediately after the court’s ruling, the legal team of Multichoice had vowed to appeal the ruling, saying “The matter was adjourned to 7th June 2024 for ruling on our application challenging jurisdiction however surprisingly rather than just ruling on its jurisdiction the Tribunal went ahead to pronounce us guilty of disobedience of its orders and issued severe sanctions against us all without hearing us on the matter in breach of our constitutionally guaranteed rights to a fair hearing.”
It should be recalled that Multichoice had on April 24, 2024 announced new price adjustments on DStv and GOtv packages.
Announcing the price adjustment in a email message to subscribers, the firm blamed the rise in the cost of business operations, for the decision which it described as a difficult one to make.