After the announcement was made to the public, numerous people have taken to social media, using Facebook and Twitter to air what they call "abuse", complaining that they are being taken advantage off.
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 has cited 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.
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.
At present, the Facebook page has accumulated 10 000 likes since its creation on Thursday, 12 March and the numbers are 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.
DStv is a highly popular service and it will be interesting to see if the aggrieved subscribers stick to their word and don’t actually pay for the services for April. Equally intriguing will be how DStv reacts to this public pressure and if the industry bodies will weigh-in to resolve things.
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