E-tv threatens war with DStv over dropped channels

eMedia has declared that it will exhaust all available legal avenues to keep four of its most successful channels on DStv.

This follows a Competition Commission investigation that concluded MultiChoice’s removal of the channels from DStv is not anti-competitive and harmful to eMedia.

Therefore, the Commission did not refer the complaint to the Competition Tribunal.

“As a result, there is a looming threat of the channels being removed once again,” said eMedia CEO Khalik Sherrif in the company’s 2024 integrated annual report.

The four channels in question are eExtra, eMovies Extra, eMovies, and eToonz.

eMedia pointed out in the report that these channels were ranked first, fourth, seventh, and tenth, respectively, among all satellite television channels nationwide for March 2024. Viewership was measured between 06:00 and 24:00 and excluded free-to-air channels.

eMedia’s legal group executive, Philippa Rafferty, explained that because the Competition Commission complaint was unsuccessful, eMedia has referred it to the Tribunal itself.

Rafferty said this hearing was originally set for August but has been postponed by mutual agreement, and the new dates have yet to be finalised.

“It is concerning that the matter of dominance seems to be overlooked in a market where DStv commands approximately nine million out of about 12 million satellite homes,” Sherrif said.

“This absolute dominance has a significant impact on eMedia’s revenue as the loss of advertising revenue from the audience viewing the channels on DStv will severely affect eMedia’s ability to compete and acquire quality content.”

This is not the only legal battle between South Africa’s two biggest media giants.

eMedia reported that the company’s legal costs increased by R8.8 million due to litigation between the two.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup caused conflict when MultiChoice’s SuperSport and the SABC reached a last-minute agreement reportedly worth R57 million to broadcast sixteen matches live, including every Springbok game.

Part of the sub-licensing deal restricted the SABC from broadcasting the content on any third-party platforms it didn’t own, including eMedia’s Openview.

However, the rugby was available on all other platforms in South Africa, including StarSat and digital terrestrial television.

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.

eMedia took MultiChoice to court, and the DStv owner hit back, saying eMedia wanted a free ride without making any effort to secure its own sports broadcasting rights or sub-licence the exclusive rights it paid top-dollar for.

It argued that such broadcasting rights could drop by more than 80% when sold on a non-exclusive basis.

The High Court ultimately did not rule on the case’s merits, but ordered it struck off the roll on procedural grounds.

In response, Openview’s owners launched an all-out legal assault by taking MultiChoice to the Competition Commission and filing fresh legal papers.

eMedia dropped the second court case after a few days. Six months later, the Competition Tribunal awarded an interdict in eMedia’s favour.

It blocks MultiChoice and the SABC from including or enforcing restrictions in sub-licensing agreements that prohibit the public broadcaster from airing sports on Openview.

As a result of the interdict, the SABC said it was unable to broadcast the Springboks’ most recent test matches.

Following this conflict, sports, arts, and culture minister Gayton Mckenzie said he is prepared to “go to war” against the broadcasters if they are unable to reach a resolution that would allow all South Africans to watch their national sports teams.

In a media briefing on 18 July, McKenzie issued a “friendly warning” to the broadcasters, saying it is wrong that one broadcaster can decide who has access to events featuring the country’s national teams.

“The national team doesn’t belong to MultiChoice or SABC or E-tv. None of them should act like the national team belongs to them,” the minister stated.

“I’m not going to be an enabler of the majority of our people not being able to watch the national rugby team or soccer team.”