Paywizard selected for NBC Nigeria Digital TV Switchover

· Paywizard to deliver subscriber management and tailored services in partnership with Inview and Nagra

London, 17 November 2015 – Paywizard, the specialist in subscriber management for pay-TV, today announces that it has been selected by Inview, the broadcast and OTT software and services specialist, and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) of Nigeria, to support the national digital TV switchover project.

Working with Inview, Paywizard’s AgileXtraTM platform will manage all customer data, subscriptions and billing, including voucher code/scratch card transactions. Paywizard’s platform will be integrated with Inview’s set-top boxes (STB) and Nagra’s conditional access (CA) system to allow subscribers to sign up to and access the content of their choice. Paywizard’s tailored services will also provide Inview with contact centre support, service automation, DTT and digital switchover insight.

“While the pay-TV market across Africa is growing rapidly and demand is high, the switchover process is challenging,” said Emeka Mba, Director General of NBC Nigeria. “We were looking to work with proven partners, such as Paywizard and Inview, who have lots of experience and industry knowledge to guide us as we move towards going digital.”

With NBC introducing a digital access fee, a key challenge was to consider how customers could subscribe to the service in a market where traditional payment mechanisms are not widely adopted.

“Vouchers were the obvious route of pre-payment for NBC Nigeria subscribers, allowing them to sign up, pay, and enjoy their new digital TV service seamlessly,” said Nick Markham, Chairman, Inview. “We’ve worked with Paywizard on a number of opportunities across the world, predominantly in the DTT and digital switchover market and with the complexities of a market such as Nigeria; they were the obvious choice of partner to work with us”.

“For over 5 years, Paywizard were instrumental to the successful rollout of digital TV in the UK, which means we have the knowledge and experience to support NBC Nigeria,” said Jonathan Guthrie, CEO, Paywizard. “Transitioning to a digital service opens up opportunities for revenue growth but is fraught with challenges and pitfalls. We believe with our proven knowledge and expertise we are well placed to help, support and advice operators transition to digital.”

Following on from its recent funding of £3.5 million earlier this year, the African pay-TV market is key to Paywizard’s international expansion. The African pay-TV market is growing at 15% year-on-year and the deal with NBC allows Paywizard to expand its international presence and help local service providers’ profit from the new TV landscape.

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About Paywizard

Pay-TV operators around the world are growing their traditional and multiscreen TV businesses by partnering with Paywizard. Our easy to deploy cloud based platform combines with our expert services to increase subscriber acquisition, retention, up-sell and cross-sell.

Paywizard builds your pay-TV revenues so you can achieve profitable growth. With our marketing suite you can quickly launch targeted campaigns to attract new subscribers, increase customer lifetime value and ARPU while decreasing churn.

We also deliver flexible support packages to meet your needs and guide you through the challenges of multiscreen monetisation. From simple advice to complete design and deployment, we deliver revenue-boosting techniques to continuously improve your service. Our expert services team can even manage and monitor your system for you.

Paywizard is at the heart of the pay-TV market. For 17 years we’ve driven the revolution in television – from free to pay, broadcast to IP and from single device to multiscreen. We know the TV market, see the challenges our clients face and understand how to drive revenue opportunities in a multiscreen world. For leading TV service providers such as BT Sport, NBC Universal, Setanta Sports and NHK Cosmomedia Europe, Paywizard is putting the profit into pay-TV.

About Inview

Inview has over 15 years of TV industry expertise and offers a wide range of broadcast and IP technology and services. Inview’s lightweight client software – Liberator, is already deployed across Europe and is now being rolled-out globally.

The Liberator software platform enables an operator to provide a broadcast, pure OTT or hybrid offering in one seamless, custom branded user interface. It includes a feature rich EPG and value added services such as VOD, catch-up TV and nPVR services, advertising, content discovery, recommendations and much more.

Inview´s innovative turnkey solution enables rapid service deployment with low initial capital expenditure via a proven delivery infrastructure