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The fight between eMedia Holdings, the parent of e.tv and Openview , and MultiChoice Group over sports rights is headed to South Africa’s competition authorities. eMedia said on Tuesday that it had filed papers with the commission over MultiChoice’s refusal to allow rugby and cricket games sublicensed to the SABC to be carried on the public broadcaster’s channels on the Openview free-to-air satellite platform. eMedia lost round one of a high court challenge against MultiChoice over the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup, with the court finding that the matter was not urgent. The SABC should not be prevented from utilising whichever platforms it selects to broadcast programming “We have lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission and we have filed papers before the Competition Tribunal in respect of the provision in the sublicensing agreements concluded between MultiChoice and the SABC that prevent the SABC from utilising third-party platforms to transmit SABC channels that broadcast national sporting events,” eMedia said in a statement on Tuesday. “MultiChoice’s conduct in this regard is particularly shocking because it has sublicensed these rights to the SABC, and accordingly, the SABC should not be prevented from utilising whichever platforms it selects to broadcast programming to the broader public,” it said. “We believe that it is in the national interest that these issues are dealt with as soon as possible and that there are no undue delays in the merits of these matters being ventilated fully. National sporting events are part of our nation building process, and accordingly, MultiChoice’s tactics and behaviour which are simply designed to entrench its dominant position in the television broadcasting sector in South Africa at the expense of the broader public in order to harm its competitors should not be countenanced.” Read: MultiChoice wins round one in rugby rights fight A spokesman for MultiChoice said the company will respond to eMedia’s complaint to the competition authorities later on Tuesday. In an earlier affidavit, responding to eMedia and filed in the high court matter, MultiChoice South Africa CEO Marc Jury said eMedia’s case was a “classic example of free-riding — seeking to profit off another’s expense without contributing at all”. Read: MultiChoice comes out guns blazing in rugby rights battle SuperSport said it makes an annual investment of R3.3-billion in South African sport and has made a cumulative contribution in excess of R14.4-billion over the past five years. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media Get breaking news alerts from TechCentral on WhatsApp
