The Federal Government has granted a 3-year tax relief to the newly inaugurated Pay TV operator, TStv Africa, as well as tax free dividends to all investors in the company.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced this on Sunday in Abuja at a dinner to mark the official unveiling of the new company.
Mohammed, who performed the official unveiling of the new company and its products, said the tax reliefs were in line with the Pioneer Status recently granted to the Creative Industry by the federal government.
The minister congratulated the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Dr. Bright Echefu, and his team for liberalising and breaking the monopoly of Pay TV in the country.
“The important thing about what Echefu has done today is that he has redefined the pay per view television industry and from today that industry will never remain the same again.
“What he has done is to democratise the media and entertainment industry and make it possible for even a peasant farmer to have access to the best entertainment and news in the world.
“It is a great opportunity for me to be the one to unveil TStv because just like a Nigerian made history by crashing the cost of telephony in Nigeria, I am glad that another Nigerian is now coming forward to crash the cost of Pay TV.” he said.
The minister commended the courage of the investor for coming from the Diaspora to invest in his country and for believing in the government’s seriousness about diversifying the economy.
Earlier, Echefu said that TStv Africa, which had gone through a lot of challenges, was birth to liberalise PayTV in the country, make it affordable to every Nigerian with added values.
He said for the first time, Nigerians could now enjoy Pay Per View because with TStv, “subscription runs as you watch and it has the facility to pause your subscription when you travel”.
Echefu said that TStv for a start has 70 premium channels model with the cheapest pay-TV in Africa with maximum subscription fee of N3,000 only.
He said as a fully Nigerian brand with consideration for the masses, TStv is not classified and it has a model that accommodate subscription as low as N200 as N500 for a period of time.
The CEO said TStv, which was modelled for Nigerians had come to stay, assuring that it would not fail and they would deliver on their promises.
