Nigerian pay-TV provider Consat is one of a
new breed of broadcasters taking on the
status quo of African TV. We asked CEO
Mayo Okunola about Consat’s first year
and its plans for the future
he name 'Consat' is
a concatenation of
its parent company
Continental Satellite
Limited. We not
only provide
satellite services,
we also aggregate content from
free-to-views on the ground and
uplink other channels from around
the world to our transponders.
We launched the service in June
of this year – although I call it more
of an unveiling than a launch, since
we had been transmitting since
2013. During that time, we hadn’t
been advertising. We were basically
testing. I used to work with the big
African broadcaster MultiChoice,
and ‘launch’ for me usually means
a lot more pomp and circumstance,
so we’ll be doing something later in
the year that will have a lot more
impact from a marketing and
advertising point of view.
We expect that by December
we’ll be at comfortably 50,000
subscribers, because we’ve been
working very hard to make sure we
get boxes out there. We’re getting
the service well tested and trialled,
then we’ll really start pumping it
up from a marketing perspective.
What triggered your move out of
the testing phase?
We could have launched earlier last
year but we weren’t ready. One
reason for the delay was having the
right people to steer the ship. I
started at Consat as the CEO at the
beginning of this year. They had
spent some time trying to find the
right people – but it’s not easy
finding someone with a background
in launching a DTH service, a
background in launching products,
and who is also Nigerian.
It’s a very complex business.
Some people tend to think it’s not
and that it’s very straightforward
and simple, but it’s one of those
businesses where, if you get it
wrong, it really hurts. You can
really mess up, from the financial
perspective.
How is Consat approaching digital
migration?
Nigeria already missed the initial
date last year. Whether we make
the next date in 2015 is subject to
the regulator and the government,
but I know that they’re actively
working toward that. What that
means of course is those who have
been watching TV via antenna will
be switched off, so they need to get
decoders.
Currently, you have the
incumbent here in Nigeria – in the
form of MultiChoice – with
products like DStv and GOtv. The
number of active subscribers is
around three to four million.
Meanwhile we have somewhere
T
between 20-30m households in
Nigeria. And you could arguably
say less than 50% of those would be
viable to have decoders in their
homes because of poverty and
insufficient power. So you’re
looking at a market of 10 or
possibly 15m.
When you do the maths, you see
very quickly that you might have
about six million households left
that you potentially have access to,
but not all of those can afford
decoders. Our product is more
targeted at a semi-mass market. We
know we have an opportunity
there, but we also want to be a
brand that is aspirational and that
will be determined by the content
and the services we offer. It’s very
hard to combat an incumbent that
has been around for 20 years in the
market, and so you have to do
things differently.
How will you acquire content?
It’s all about content. From a content
perspective, the challenge we have is
that a great deal of content is exclusive
across Africa to MultiChoice. It’s
not just a Nigerian issue or a
Consat issue. It’s an issue for all the
other broadcasters who are popping
up throughout Africa, because they
all understand the opportunity that
digital migration offers.
It’s not just sports that are
exclusive – the World Cup or the
CHOICE
FORAFRICA
It is the end
of that
monopolis-
tic style of
doing
business
from
content
providers
“
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26
|
ISSUE 2 2014
|
THE CHANNEL
THE CHANNEL
|
DIGITAL MIGRATION
