The City Press this morning reported that dominant satellite broadcaster, MultiChoice, is the subject of two Competition Commission complaints and that government is also looking at the one-sided nature of the sector.
MultiChoice, a division of Naspers, is SA's largest satellite broadcaster with some six million viewers in several countries, of which the bulk are in South Africa.
According to the paper, two complaints have been lodged at the commission over SuperSport's "monopoly on key sports rights" such as the Premier Soccer League and the English Premier League.
One complaint was lodged by competitor On Digital Media (ODM), which owns TopTV, while the other is by a member of the public, Louis Johannes van der Merwe, the paper reports.
ODM's complaint was placed shortly after it was placed in business rescue last October and coincides with its initial application to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) to be allowed to broadcast porn, says City Press.
A rescue plan posed by StarTimes in April was recently adopted by a majority of 93.9% of ODM's creditors, while 100% of the company's preference shareholders and 99.3% of its ordinary shareholders gave the motion the thumbs up. StarTimes, a Chinese company, will take a 20% stake in the SA operation.
ODM argues that SuperSport will not give it access to an essential facility, is anti-competitive and inducing suppliers or customers not to deal with it, says the paper.
MultiChoice was not able to comment, telling the paper it had not seen ODM's complaint. The City Press also noted that communications minister Dina Pule is set to tell ICASA to look at competition in the broadcast market.
It speculates that the likeliest target would be long-term exclusivity deals.
Share