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Kenyan communication consultant and media personality Lorna Irungu-Macharia took to Twitter after discovering that her cable TV provider was not entirely honest with their charges

Lorna inquired about the KES 1020 (US$ 10) charge she would have to pay to connect an additional decoder to her HD PVR decoder.

She has an internet connection, so she looked into what else she could get for the same amount of money. She’s got Apple TV and she has paid for Hulu and Netflix which cost her about KES 2000 (US$ 20).

She was already thinking of downgrading her DStv service after getting the streaming services, but the charges put her off the service completely.

That was when she discovered that most Kenyan TV stations stream online, so she could just as easily watch the streams online rather than through a decoder.

DStv took the opportunity to tell Lorna that an Xtraview-capable decoder would not incur the extra charge, meaning that she would have to upgrade to avoid the fee.

Eric from DStv added in a ringing endorsement, but Lorna would have none of it. She pointed out that a lot of the content on DStv was also available on Hulu, which she has.

Lorna has been using DStv for nine years, so she does know what she’s talking about. As for sports, she found another option.

And that is how DStv Kenya lost a valuable customer.

Eric Mugendi Author

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