Big fight between DStv and Openview

DStv operator MultiChoice says it rejected eMedia’s offer for the rights to broadcast the Springbok rugby test matches against Ireland on Openview because it was too low, Rapport reports.

This comes after eMedia released a statement on Friday declaring the contrary.

“eMedia made a significant financial offer to MultiChoice to broadcast the Irish rugby Pretoria and Durban test matches, which MultiChoice inexplicably rejected,” the broadcaster said.

eMedia issued the statement in response to the South African Rugby Union (Saru) casting it as the villain in the story after the SABC announced it would no longer show the matches.

At the heart of the matter is a six-month Competition Tribunal interdict that blocks MultiChoice from including restrictions specific to Openview and eMedia in sub-licensing agreements with the SABC.

The issue traces back to a dispute over Rugby and Cricket World Cup sub-licensing deals between MultiChoice and the SABC that prevented the public broadcaster from showing the matches on Openview.

Openview is eMedia’s free-to-view satellite TV platform.

Last year, MultiChoice and the SABC concluded last-minute deals to show key matches from the Rugby and Cricket World Cup tournaments on the public broadcaster’s free-to-air channels.

However, the deals explicitly prohibited the SABC from broadcasting the matches on any of its channels on Openview.

eMedia hauled MultiChoice to court and eventually the Competition Tribunal, arguing that these stipulations were anti-competitive.

The Competition Tribunal issued an interdict blocking MultiChoice from including such restrictions for the next six months while it considers the merits of eMedia’s case.

Saru characterised this as eMedia seeking to freeload without compensating the SABC after it paid SuperSport for the broadcasting rights.

“To be clear, this is not a conflict between SuperSport and the SABC — they had a contract in place to broadcast the matches based on appropriate commercial terms,” said Saru president Mark Alexander.

“It was the intervention of eMedia and its demand that Openview be permitted to broadcast the rugby without any financial contribution by eMedia that put an end to this agreement.”

Alexander said eMedia’s attempts to put an end to exclusivity in sports broadcasting rights would slash the fees they get from selling those rights.

“The sport itself would suffer the most, severely impacting our programme delivery from the grassroots level to the back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks,” he said.

“eMedia is a well-funded private company that pays to create television content and purchases content from filmmakers and other broadcasters,” Alexander continued.

“It is absurd that they should be allowed to broadcast sport without contributing to its support and development.”

Alexander said Saru was not invited to participate in the proceedings that led to the Competition Tribunal order despite its significant impact on Saru’s sustainability.

“This may appear to be a minor and obscure issue to the general public, but it is critically important to the Springboks and the future of rugby in South Africa, affecting not just the broadcasters but the sport itself,” he said.

“If this six-month order is extended, it would severely undermine the financial model that has enabled us to produce consecutive Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok teams.”

Alexander said Saru was seeking legal advice regarding the Tribunal’s order.

Mark Alexander, Saru president

eMedia hit back at Alexander, saying he failed to mention that the SABC agreed with their argument that the restrictions were anti-competitive and filed affidavits in support of their case.

“The SABC itself has filed a complaint with the Competition Commission in relation to MultiChoice and SuperSport’s conduct in sub-licensing the free-to-air rights relating to sporting events,” eMedia stated.

It also said the SABC derives all of the advertising revenue from its channels that are broadcast on Openview.

“To be clear, eMedia and Openview derive no advertising revenue from the SABC channels being distributed on the Openview platform,” it said.

“Following the institution of further urgent proceedings by eMedia, MultiChoice/SuperSport gave an undertaking late last week that it would permit the SABC to broadcast the rugby on Openview, at no additional cost to the SABC,” said eMedia.

The broadcaster said this meant the SABC would reach its entire audience and not miss out on the 25% of viewers accessing its channels through Openview.

“Inexplicably, the SABC used the fact of that undertaking to cancel its agreement with MultiChoice/SuperSport in its entirety,” eMedia said.

“It is the SABC’s decision which resulted in the rugby not being aired by it.”

The SABC has disputed this version of events, saying that legal action in the Competition Appeal Court necessitated that it not proceed with the sub-licensing deal it had concluded with MultiChoice.

It said all the Springbok rugby matches during the current test series will still be broadcast on ten SABC radio stations.