eMedia and MultiChoice are at war over sports rights as South Africa’s TV viewership dwindles, but the hostilities between the two broadcasters date back a decade.
The latest conflict involving the broadcasters concerned a complaint made by eMedia that MultiChoice, which acquired exclusive rights to the T20 Cricket World Cup, only opened a tender for free-to-air broadcasters to bid for sub-licensing rights five weeks before the tournament’s start. “eMedia views the issuing of these late invitations to tender by MultiChoice as undermining fair competition and ignoring a recent Competition Tribunal order designed to prevent such restrictive practices,” the broadcaster said.The “recent Competition Tribunal order” eMedia referred to came after conflict erupted between the two companies during the 2023 Rugby World Cup.R57 million to broadcast sixteen Rugby World Cup matches live, including every Springbok game.
Despite the SABC calling the restriction “anti-competitive” and “irrational”, it struck a similar deal with MultiChoice later that year for the Cricket World Cup rights.in the Sunday Times, Rapport, and City Press announcing its legal action. The High Court ultimately did not rule on the case’s merits, but ordered it struck off the roll. In response,by taking MultiChoice to the Competition Commission and filing fresh legal papers.
MultiChoice said that doing so would needlessly increase the cost, and argued that the concerns could be mitigated in other ways.MultiChoice was sensitive about the encryption issue because it would have allowed E-tv owner eMedia a subsidised entry into South Africa’s pay-TV sector.
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