TSTV Website not Accessible Barely 3 Days After Official Re-launch

The official website of TSTV Africa, Nigeria’s indigenous Digital TV service, is currently inoperative, barely three working days after re-launching.

The company, which Nigerians are ecstatically banking on to break the dominance of the Multichoice-owned DSTV that somewhat refused to adopt the ‘pay-per-view’ model despite years of agitation by customers. TSTV is coming to the market on the promise that it would deliver on the ‘pay-per-view’.

This is not the company’s first attempt at launching in the Nigerian market. TSTV first launched in the country on October 1, 2017, albeit unsuccessfully, due to insurmountable legal challenges. The company re-launched on October 1, 2020, and with the weeks of online and offline publicity that preceded the re-launch, it seemed TSTV was all set for a bang take-off. But as it seems, the high expectation from potential subscribers is falling short.

Prospective customers who visited the company’s website to seek enquiries on subscription packages but could not access it called Business Elites Africa’s attention to the problem. We confirmed that the website is under maintenance.

“WE ARE UPGRADING. We’ll be back soon!”, this was the message on the website at the time of filing this report. However, it is not clear how long the portal has been static. Plus, there is no message on the company’s social media accounts alluding to the upgrade on its website, and questions asked by customers on the platforms were not responded to. This suggests a sloppy customer service from a company that is trying to correct its first impression and daring to rival the market giant, DSTV.

Despite the presumably temporary setback, Nigerians are still eager to adopt TSTV as an alternative to DSTV provided the company delivers on its promise. On Nigeria’s Independence Day, the TSTV team hit the streets of the Abuja, announcing its return to business.

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The CEO/Managing Director, Bright Echefu, had earlier announced that TSTV will roll out in 18 states. He said there is only one bouquet for all subscribers, and they are allowed to choose their preferred channels out of the 140 premium channels in the bouquet, of which 80 of the channels are going to be aired in High definition.

“…perseverance and commitment from both staff, Management and the board of the company brought us this far, and as such, the celebration this year will focus on renewing lost relationship, and bringing back that glory that was almost going extinct. The Management of TSTV has done a lot internally, to rebuild that trust and to also make us competitive enough to be able to deliver to Nigerians value in terms of premium content and entertainment as well,” Echefu said at a press briefing before the official re-launch.

Customers are expected to pay as low as N2 and as high as N5 for a channel. They also have the option of pausing their TSTV decoder, but according to Echefu, the reason for doing that must be tenable, such as, if a customer needs to travel. As for customers who purchased the old decoders, they are allowed to swap it for the new decoder.

Echefu added that the company has acquired the rights to broadcast 2020/2021 English Football League season, as well as Laliga and the Eurocup.