DStv fights major battle with Openview over Springbok rugby match coverage

 

DStv operator MultiChoice says it has rejected eMedia’s offer for the rights to broadcast the Springbok rugby league match against Ireland on Openview because it was too low, Rapport reports.

This comes after eMedia released a statement on Friday saying otherwise.

“eMedia made a significant financial offer to MultiChoice to broadcast the Irish rugby matches in Pretoria and Durban, which MultiChoice inexplicably rejected,” the broadcaster said.

eMedia released the statement in response to the South African Rugby Union (SARU) calling it the villain of the story after the SABC announced it would no longer broadcast the matches.

At the heart of the matter is a six-month Competition Tribunal ban preventing MultiChoice from including specific restrictions for Openview and eMedia in its sub-licensing agreements with the SABC.

The issue stems from a dispute over sub-licensing agreements for the Rugby and Cricket World Cups between MultiChoice and the SABC, which prevented the public broadcaster from showing the matches on Openview.

Openview is eMedia’s free satellite TV platform.

Last year, MultiChoice and the SABC struck last-minute deals to show key matches from the Rugby and Cricket World Cup tournaments on the public broadcaster’s free-to-air channels.

However, the agreements explicitly prohibited the SABC from broadcasting the matches on any of its Openview channels.

eMedia took MultiChoice to court and ultimately to the Competition Tribunal, arguing that the clauses were anti-competitive.

The Competition Tribunal has issued an order preventing MultiChoice from including such restrictions for the next six months while it assesses the merits of eMedia’s case.

Saru described this as an attempt by eMedia to profit without compensating the SABC after the latter paid SuperSport for the broadcast rights.

“To be clear, this is not a conflict between SuperSport and the SABC – they had a contract in place to broadcast the matches on appropriate commercial terms,” said SABC chairman Mark Alexander.

“It was the intervention of eMedia and their demand that Openview be allowed to broadcast rugby without any financial contribution from eMedia that ended this agreement.”

Alexander said that eMedia’s attempts to end the exclusivity of sports broadcast rights would drastically reduce the compensation derived from the sale of those rights.

“The sport itself would suffer the most, with a severe impact on our programming from grassroots level right through to the back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks,” he said.

“eMedia is a well-funded private company that pays to create television content and buys content from filmmakers and other broadcasters,” Alexander continued.

“It is absurd that they are allowed to broadcast sport without contributing to its support and development.”

Alexander said Saru was not invited to participate in the proceedings that led to the Competition Tribunal order, despite its significant impact on Saru’s sustainability.

“This may seem like a minor and obscure issue to the general public, but it is of fundamental importance to the Springboks and the future of rugby in South Africa, as it affects not only the broadcasters but also the sport itself,” he said.

“If this six-month order were to be extended, it would seriously undermine the financial model that has allowed us to produce consecutive Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok teams.”

Alexander said Saru was seeking legal advice regarding the court order.

eMedia responded to Alexander, saying he had failed to mention that the SABC agreed with their argument that the restrictions were anti-competitive and had filed affidavits supporting their case.

“The SABC itself has lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission in relation to the conduct of MultiChoice and SuperSport in the sub-licensing of free-to-air rights to sporting events,” eMedia said.

He also said that the SABC derives all its advertising revenue from its channels broadcast on Openview.

“To be clear, eMedia and Openview do not derive advertising revenue from the SABC channels distributed on the Openview platform,” he said.

“Following the initiation of further urgent proceedings by eMedia, MultiChoice/SuperSport committed last week to allow the SABC to broadcast rugby on Openview, at no additional cost to the SABC,” eMedia said.

The broadcaster said this meant the SABC would reach its entire audience and not lose the 25% of viewers who access its channels via Openview.

“Inexplicably, the SABC used the fact of this commitment to completely cancel its agreement with MultiChoice/SuperSport,” eMedia said.

“It was the SABC’s decision that meant rugby wasn’t shown.”

The SABC disputed this version of events, stating that legal action in the Competition Appeal Court would have made it necessary not to proceed with the sub-licensing agreement with MultiChoice.

He said all Springbok rugby matches during the current Test series will still be broadcast on ten SABC radio stations.

 

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadcasting/544487-big-dstv-vs-openview-clash.html

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