Compliance notices issued by the National Consumer Commission (NCC), which would force pay-TV operators to restructure the packages they offer consumers, have been opposed by MultiChoice and TopTV.
Leading digital satellite television operator MultiChoice and relative newcomer TopTV were issued with the notices on 13 October and given 14 days to object.
NCC commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala says that, in terms of section 13 of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), the pay-TV providers would have to review their respective customer offerings, and make amends where deemed necessary.
“Consumers have the right to choose and, if goods are bundled, consumers must derive economic benefit from buying the bundle,” says Mohlala.
According to the Act and depending on the outcome of deliberations, the operators may have to consider finer categorisation of channels, according to specific genres, and offer individually priced channels to customers, rather than offering only channel bouquets, as is the current status quo.
Mohlala says the move was prompted by a proactive investigation into the ICT industry, in which the NCC identified non-compliance with the provisions of section 13 of the CPA. The Act outlines the consumer's right to select suppliers, and includes legislation on the bundling of goods and services.
Providers protest
Vino Govender, CEO of TopTV's umbrella organisation, On Digital Media (ODM), says the company intends to reject the NCC's proposal. “[The proposal] would force us to offer consumers the ability to pick and choose the channels they want to subscribe to.”
On this basis, he says, ODM has “taken legal steps to repudiate the commission's line of action, because it threatens our business model and could force the only pay-TV alternative to MultiChoice out of business”. Govender adds that this would not be in the best interest of the end-consumers.
MultiChoice has also countered the NCC's proposal, but will not divulge the details of the ongoing issue just yet. Corporate affairs GM at MultiChoice SA Jackie Rakitla says: “MultiChoice SA believes it is not in contravention of the CPA and has communicated this position to the NCC. We are not in a position to respond to any questions in this regard until this matter has been resolved between us and the commission.”
Remodelling repercussions
Govender says if TopTV remodels its product structure, it would cause serious harm to the business and even “lead to closure [which would] effect as many as 6 000 jobs nationally”.
He says TopTV did in fact consider this route before its launch, but found it to be financially impracticable. “We considered offering a pick-and-mix a la carte option, but discovered the model made no financial sense as content providers would have hiked the cost of channels substantially.”
He adds that the model is impossible to maintain from a systems and administrative point of view.
On Friday, Mohlala said the commission had not yet received any official responses from MultiChoice or TopTV.
Share
