Frustrated GoTV subscribers demand compensation after multiple channels, including sports, vanished during the Champions League, leaving football fans disappointed.
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ubscribers of GoTV, a popular prepaid satellite cable service, were left frustrated on Tuesday night as multiple channels, including crucial sports networks, disappeared without warning.
The outage, which coincided with the eagerly anticipated return of the Champions League, has led many football-loving Nigerians to demand compensation from MultiChoice, GoTV’s parent company.
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The blackout came at a critical time for sports fans, particularly those looking forward to watching their favourite European clubs battle it out on the pitch.
As Tuesday’s Champions League action unfolded, GoTV subscribers were met with blank screens, losing access to key sports channels such as SS BLITZ Africa, SS Football Africa, SS La Liga Africa, SS Select 1, SS Select 2, and ESPN.
In addition to sports networks, several other popular channels, including M-Net Movies 4, ROK, Africa Magic Epic, TNT Africa, Al Jazeera, CNN International, Arise News, TVC News Nigeria, and Channels Television, also went dark on Monday and had yet to be restored by the time this report was filed.
Freelanews investigation on Wednesday revealed that the outage was caused by a severe power failure on the Intelsat 33e satellite, a geostationary high-throughput satellite providing services to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
The power failure, which occurred on Saturday, disrupted services for all customers relying on the satellite, including MultiChoice.
Despite the technical explanation, many GoTV subscribers were left outraged by what they perceived as a lack of communication from the cable provider.
Some subscribers expressed their frustration in interviews, demanding that MultiChoice compensate them for the lost viewing time.
Sanjo, a football viewing centre owner in Ojodu Berger, shared his disappointment with Press. “I use both GoTV and DSTV to show different matches on Champions League nights, but I was shocked when I couldn’t find any of the sports channels on GoTV,” he explained.
“I tried everything to fix the problem, thinking it was an antenna issue, but nothing worked. I didn’t receive any notification from GoTV about the disruption. It was a catastrophe.”
Similarly, Adebola Oluwatosin, a devoted Real Madrid fan, expressed his frustration after missing Tuesday’s match between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
“I had just paid a subscription of 13,900, and I even bought fuel because there was no power at the time, only to find that all the sports channels had disappeared,” Oluwatosin lamented.
“They need to compensate us. Since this is a monthly subscription, will they extend the expiration date for the days the channels were unavailable?”
Subscribers like Oluwatosin are calling for MultiChoice to provide compensation, with many demanding an extension to their subscription period to account for the days lost during the outage.
When contacted, Caroline Oghuma, a spokesperson for MultiChoice, confirmed that the company was working to resolve the issue and restore services.
“We are experiencing a temporary disruption in our services due to a technical issue with one of our satellite providers, Intelsat,” Oghuma stated, assuring customers that efforts were underway to fix the problem.
While MultiChoice continues to work on resolving the situation, subscribers remain hopeful that they will receive adequate compensation for the disruption, which has left many without access to their favourite programming during a critical period in the football season.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
