At a Competition Tribunal hearing this week, eMedia contended that its inability to broadcast DStv-licensed rugby and cricket World Cup games on its OpenView platform is anti-competitive and unconstitutional.
For its part, DStv owner MultiChoice argued that acquiring the rights for premium sporting matches is hugely expensive and recruits subscribers, which is critical to its business model.
In an interim relief application on Thursday, eMedia's legal team argued that Multichoice abused its dominant position in the premium sports broadcasting market when entering into a sub-licensing agreement with the SABC that excluded broadcasting on third-party platforms.