The long-running war of words and legal disputes between South Africa’s two giant independent broadcasters, MultiChoice Group and eMedia, has seemingly come to an end. All legal actions have been curtailed and the two entities have apparently opted for a private settlement between themselves.

A note within eMedia’s half-yearly results (issued on November 25th) says that the two commercial broadcasters have come to an agreement regarding a fight over MultiChoice’s removal of four eMedia channels from DStv in May 2022 and another regarding DStv’s sidelining of eMedia’s Openview platform in a sublicensing agreement with pub-caster SABC regarding Rugby World Cup matches broadcast in 2023.

“The Competition Commission’s complaint against MultiChoice South Africa by eMedia for removing eMedia’s four entertainment channels from the DStv bouquet as well as DStv’s preclusion of the Rugby World Cup matches from the Openview platform has resulted in significant legal fees for the group. The matter has, however, been satisfactorily settled by both parties in September,” eMedia said in its results.

The two have regularly appeared in front of the nation’s Competition Commission and its Competition Tribunal and lost arguments on one side or the other tended to result in statements promising escalations of the spats.

The end result – at least at the moment – is that four of eMedia’s popular channels (eExtra, eMovies Extra, eMovies and eToonz) are again transmitted on the DStv platform having previously been removed. A second dispute covering access to key sports (cricket and rugby) and their non-availability to pubcaster SABC has also been resolved.

In April this year, the Competition Tribunal handed down interim relief in favour of eMedia. “MultiChoice, including its subsidiary SuperSport, and the SABC are interdicted from including restrictions which prohibit the SABC from transmitting or making available sublicensed broadcasts on platforms owned or operated by eMedia (through Openview) in sublicensing agreements concluded between them relating to the broadcasting of sporting events,” the tribunal said at the time.

“The terms of the settlement are confidential but we can confirm that the litigation between MultiChoice and eMedia has been settled amicably between the parties,” MultiChoice said.

eMedia agreed and said the issues between the two parties have been “satisfactorily resolved by agreement”, bringing an end to the legal proceedings between them.

“We have entered into a confidential settlement agreement on the matter. We are very pleased with the outcome,” added eMedia.

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Categories: Blogs, Broadcast, Business, Inside Satellite

Tags: emedia, multichoice, south africa