As pay tv bleeps and mutes words like ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ from its contents
By Debo Popoola
Unarguably, Dstv is the most popular pay-tv in Nigeria; in fact, it has established itself in this country that a household that does not have it is regarded as poor. Even when other indigenous pay-tvs tried to break their monopoly, they struggled and went out of business; notable among them are Hitv and Fstv. How Dstv has been able to enchant and hold most Nigerians spellbound is not unfathomable: diversity is the spice of life, and they have been able to provide this to many Nigerians with their contents that are all encompassing; from sports to fashion, music, movie( both foreign and local) and news. No doubt, most subscribers will testify that they are one of the best pay-tv companies in the country, even though they most times dish us with garbage that chokes our throats.
One of the garbage Dstv is presenting to us is the censoring of religions words like God and Jesus. On their Mnet and Africa Magic channels, it has been discovered that whenever words like God and Jesus are mentioned or written in subtitles of movies, they are muted and bleeped. Ironically, the F and the N words are mostly left to air freely.
Nigeria is a religious country, in fact, policies sometimes are influenced by our religious beliefs, this is why most religious leaders are very rich because most people would not mind starving for their spiritual leaders. But it seems our religion is at stake with Dstv’s move. It seems the pay tv is trying to impose on us what we should listen to and what we should not listen to. Recently, the company came under public criticism for planning to air gay-themed children programme, if not for people’s outcry.
The pay-tv’s suspicious action can be said to be an atheistic move, a move that is ravaging the western world. In the United States, there have been moves to remove God from the popular motto of the country, “In God we Trust”, and from the national emblems of the country.
The influence of Dstv in the life of many Nigerians should never be overlooked, and if steps are not taken against them to stop the bleeping and muting of God’s name while F words are left to be aired, then we are sitting on kegs of gunpowder waiting to explode.
