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- Multichoice initially wanted to remove eMedia's set of TV channels from DStv at the end of March 2022.
- The Competition Commission ordered MultiChoice to keep the channels for the time being until the case was heard.
- The Competition Appeal Court ruled that the channels must remain on DStv for another couple of months.
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The set of eMedia TV channels MultiChoice wants removed must remain on DStv for another couple of months and possibly until the end of 2023. The Competition Appeal Court granted eMedia a further extension, ruling that MultiChoice is still prohibited from making the chop.
MultiChoice has been ordered to keep the four TV channels on DStv until the conclusion of the Competition Tribunal's latest decision on the drawn-out case.
After initially wanting to remove eMedia's set of TV channels from DStv at the end of March 2022, MultiChoice was finally planning to axe eMedia's channels at the end of July 2023 as the latest switch-off date in the e.tv-on-DStv-e.tv-off-DStv case which has been ongoing for more than a year.
After channel carriage renewal negotiations broke down last year, MultiChoice decided that it no longer wanted to carry eMedia Investments' eMovies (DStv 138), eMovies Extra (DStv 140), eExtra (DStv 195) and eToonz (DStv 311).
READ MORE | Why MultiChoice is challenging e.tv’s TV box victory
MultiChoice did opt to keep – under a separate agreement – the TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) and e.tv (DStv 194) also from eMedia, which includes the 7-days a week eNuus Afrikaans TV news bulletin - packaged by eNCA and supplied to M-Net's kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET and Kie (DStv 145) channels.
The Tribunal heard the case in April 2022 and dismissed it, and MultiChoice dropped the e.tv channels at the end of May 2022.
MultiChoice told the Competition Tribunal during hearings in April 2022 that it had satellite transponder capacity constraints and that eMedia's TV channels didn't fit into its 5-year strategy. However, eMedia showed that MultiChoice did have enough satellite capacity.
After MultiChoice dropped the channels at the end of May 2022, eMedia then took MultiChoice to the Competition Tribunal again when it immediately appealed the case. MultiChoice was therefore ordered to immediately reinstate channels for another few months, pending the outcome of the appeal.
Besides DStv, the e.tv channels are available on the eMedia-owned free-to-air satellite service OpenView and with eExtra also carried on China's StarTimes, operating as StarSat in South Africa. The e.tv-packaged TV channels have been some of the most-watched TV channels on DStv in South Africa.
A Competition Commission investigation had been ongoing with eMedia alleging that "MultiChoice's conduct constitutes an abuse of dominance in contravention of the Competition Act". The Tribunal granted another extension order in December 2022 for a further period of a maximum of six months.
The court has now decided that MultiChoice must "maintain the status quo and is interdicted from removing... the bouquet of channels on the DStv platform" while the Competition Tribunal considers whether "a further extension of interim relief can be legally justified".
READ MORE | Court orders MultiChoice to reinstate four e.tv channels on the DStv platform
