Competition Commission to investigate validity of SABC, MultiChoice deal

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Competition Commission will be allowed to investigate whether the agreement between the SABC and MultiChoice is indeed valid, reports SABC News.

The agreement, which allowed the pay television operator to acquire rights to the SABC’s 24-hour news channel and an entertainment channel, at a cost of R100 million for a year for a period of five years, was signed by the public broadcaster’s then COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng in 2013.

The judgement, made on Friday by Justice Edwin Cameron, was unanimous, and tasked the commission with investigating whether the deal resulted in a “notifiable merger”, it is reported.

ALSO READ: SABC board says probe into R100m MultiChoice deal must go on

The deal drew much criticism, with its opponents pointing out that MultiChoice was consequently in control of SABC archives. The entertainment channel, called SABC Encore, aired programmes and shows from the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2017, M-Net disputed any foul play in the deal. “MultiChoice has a long standing relationship with the SABC dating back to the early 1980s. The parties have bought and sold content from and to each other for years, and will continue to do so,” MultiChoice explained.

The pay-TV provider further pointed to one of its team saying, “We don’t normally pay for news channels” and “some strange motive is imputed – that MultiChoice made corrupt payments to the SABC simply for their support on non-encryption of set-top boxes”.

It also pointed out that the decision to migrate to digital terrestrial television (DTT) lies with government, and that the SABC has no control over it.

The Commission has 30 days from Friday to file its report to the Competition Tribunal.

The public broadcaster noted the Constitution Court’s decision, and said it would cooperate.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.