Online Television Subscription in Tanzania: Examination of the Influence of Information Quality, Video quality and technology ease of use

Abstract

The internet-based broadcasting has led to emergency of a great number of
broadcasting channels that offer subscribers with more choices ubiquitously.
Understanding of the determinants for customers’ subscription to a particular
broadcasting channel becomes important. This study analyzed factors
influencing online Television (TV) Subscription in Tanzania. Specifically, the
study assessed the influence of information quality, video quality and online TV
technology ease of use on online TV subscription in Tanzania. A questionnaire
was used to collect data from 241 online TV subscribers in Dar es Salaam. A
multiple regression analysis of the data collected revealed that, information
quality and online TV technology ease of use influence significantly online TV
subscription in Tanzania. However, the findings of the study established that
video quality influence Online TV subscription insignificantly. This implies
that, the video quality did not matter most for online TV subscription. The
study recommends that, Online TV service providers should focus on improving
content quality of the information shared. The platforms for accessing Online
TVs should be ease to use including making it easy to access and use online TV
programs in a more cost effective manner. Besides, subscribers should be easily
enabled to access and view TV programs and/or recorded videos faster than it
is with traditional TVs. Doing that would attract more subscribers and hence
generating more revenue through subscription-based and ad-supported models.

Key words: Online TV subscription; Information quality; Video quality; Ease of Use.