GTV: Ndio tumekula hasara au?

GTV: Ndio tumekula hasara au?

Pole sana.Hivi unataka kuniambia huwajui GTV ni akina nani?Mbona katika mazingira ya sasa hili lilitegemewa kufuatana na sifa za wamiliki wake?
Au UFISADI ushaingia na huko maana kesho nona Games zangu za kutazama halafu sijui vipi maana DSTV nao michosho
 
Source: The Guardian Newspaper

Britain`s Gateway Broadcast Services, until recently suppliers of the GTV service to subscribers across Africa, announced late last month that it was going into immediate liquidation.

The notification was contained in a January 30 statement to the media that caught the world by surprise and sent ripples of shock, disbelief, distress and anger down the spines of GTV customers.

Few bought suggestions that the current world financial crisis had made it impossible for the company to secure further funding and continue with business.

For one thing, up to as late as February 1, GTV kept advising customers via telephone messages (in Tanzania in both English and Kiswahili) thus: ``Don`t miss out on premier movies, great series and nail-biting sports on GTV this January! Pay for your account # … now to avoid the weekend rush.``

Unless the company can stand up and declare that it was not the one routinely sending out these messages, who could be too naive or docile to see that it was deliberately hoodwinking its customers?

The company made attempts to validate its bankruptcy claims by saying it had worked extensively to investigate, evaluate and analyse strategic alternatives that would have helped it dump the liquidation option – but, apparently, to no avail.

It may indeed be true that GBS had over the last two years invested US$200 million in its ventures and created jobs and competition in its 22 markets.

However, the circumstances under which the liquidation notice was issued render all this information meaningless.

Nor could the emergence of the global economic downturn be accepted as an excuse for a company not to tell its customers the truth.

It is noteworthy that the statement quoted the GBS spokesperson as declaring categorically that the (GTV) service was being withdrawn with immediate effect.

He added: ``We realise the negative impact this has had on our loyal customers, creditors and staff, all of who have believed in GTV and the revolution in pay TV it had created. We have tried every possible step to keep the company going but we are all the unfortunate victims of the current global economic crisis.``

Excellent PR work, one might say. But why didn’t he go on to discuss the quandary that customers would find themselves in and the measures the company was planning to take to help them out of the mess – idle dishes and decoders, subscription fee paid for service not actually rendered, etc, etc.?

This is a mega-scandal and all victims deserve both convincing explanation and fair compensation. Some especially fast ones have already engaged lawyers for the purpose; but we know most cannot afford legal services.

In the light of these facts, the government should feel obliged to intervene and ensure that justice done and there is no recurrence of debacles of this nature.

The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has been heard commenting on this issue but, to be honest, we are yet to see GBS/GTV really taken to task and thus remain wondering whether real action will ever come!
 
Football fans in many parts of Africa woke up to sad news last Friday. They were to miss most of what has been dubbed as England’s leading drama series, the Barclay’s Premier League together with a host of other matches from other leading European football leagues. Satellite pay television broadcaster GTV, with up to 80% rights to broadcast the live matches, went into liquidation. Indeed, most people did not watch the weekend matches including the hugely anticipated Liverpool V Chelsea match.


In a shock move, Gateway Broadcast Services, the owners of the London based TV announced January 30th that the company was to be liquidated. In a statement on GTV website:
The current financial and global crisis has severely interrupted the company’s ability to secure further funding for the continued operation of the business.

The company has worked extensively with external advisors and all internal resources to investigate, evaluate and analyze strategic alternatives for the Company to further continue to operate. In determining to approve the Company’s plan of Liquidation, the board and management carefully reviewed the advice and findings.

The company also says it has invested over US$200 million in 2 years across the 22 markets and had over 100,000 subscribers in Africa. The statement continues:
We realise the negative impact this has had on our loyal customers, creditors and staff, all of who have believed in GTV and the revolution in pay TV it had created. We have tried every possible step to keep the company going but we are all the unfortunate victims of the current global economic crisis.
GTV had other programmes like drama series, soaps, news channels and others on its menu broadcast to countries like Botswana, Kenya, Cameroon, Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Right until the end, there was no indication that GTV was experiencing any problem and they were busy subscribing more customers.

The company had a huge task of competing with South African based Multichoice, which had monopolized the market for many years, a task that is believed to have failed. The fate of creditors is still not known as there is no official communication to address the issue. Customer service help lines also allegedly redirect callers to the press statement.

Source:
logo.png

 
Wanabodi,
Kwa wale mnaoikumbuka habari hii. Kwenye magazeti ya leo, December 1st 2010 kuna habari kuwa GTV itawalipa fidia waliokuwa wateja wake.
Kuna gazeti moja la leo, bila shaka ni Nipashe lina hiyo habari. Kwa wale waliokumbwa na mkasa huu wanaweza tafuta hilo gazeti kwa habari zaidi
 
Back
Top Bottom