by Thinus Ferreira
eMedia must keep Glow TV from NisMedia on its Openview satellite platform and can't remove the general entertainment Indian TV channel from this service until the contract ends in February 2023, an arbitration court ruled this week, with NisMedia that says the outcome proves that e.tv was wrong to remove Glow TV off their Openview platform.
The court channel carriage fight follows after a nasty South African broadcast biz scandal erupted after eMedia abruptly dumped Glow TV from Openview on 1 October without any prior warning or explanation.
NisMedia then sought an urgent court interdict in the High Court to keep the hugely popular Glow TV on Openview. The High Court ordered eMedia to immediately restore Glow TV on Openview, while the case was moved to arbitration.
The public drama began on 1 October when Openview dumped Glow TV - a shocking move that was met by an avalanche of anger from Openview viewers.
Openview said in a public statement on its Facebook page only that its partnership with Glow TV had come to an end.
Openview gave its customers no warning about the sudden and unexpected removal of Glow TV on 1 October, angering a large group of Openview viewers who publicly vented about Glow TV's abrupt removal and who slammed Openview over both the channel's removal and Openview's lack of communication or any prior warning about it.
Glow TV is run by Nazeer Noormohamed who is also the CEO of the NisMedia Group, who said that NisMedia would be taking Openview to court and that it had a channel carriage agreement to keep Glow TV on Openview until February 2023.
According to insiders, Openview and NisMedia allegedly had a disagreement regarding a separate advertising sales contract that Openview wanted to introduce for Glow TV that NisMedia refused to sign.
That allegedly led to Openview making the decision to terminate the channel carriage of Glow TV.
From the court documents it appears that eMedia alleged that it decided to dump Glow TV citing a decline in viewership of the channel, that also led to a decrease in advertising revenue.
MultiChoice dumped Glow TV a few years ago from its DStv satellite pay-TV service but Glow TV remains available on China's StarTimes service operating under the brand name of StarSat in South Africa.
Meanwhile eMedia and Openview added ZEE's Zee One channel from November.
It means that eMedia and Openview now has two Indian-infused general entertainment channels for its viewers - Zee One and Glow TV.
"Glow TV is pleased to announce that in terms of an arbitration order this week by Judge Harms, it was ruled that the contract Glow TV has with Openview is valid and binding until February 2023," says Nazeer Noormohamed in a statement.
"The judge also awarded Glow TV costs in this matter. The outcome clearly proves that e.tv was wrong to remove Glow TV off their Openview platform early October, when GlowTV was subsequently reinstated via an urgent court order, until the finality of the arbitration process, which has now been concluded in favour of Glow TV."
"We wish to thank all our loyal viewers for your support and most importantly for your prayers during this time."
"We will certainly be looking at various options concerning the period beyond February 2023 in the interest of our viewers and will keep you informed of new developments. Meanwhile, enjoy watching your favourite channel. The truth shall always prevail."
In response to a media query about the arbitration ruling over Glow TV's inclusion on Openview, eMedia says "We can
confirm that an order was issued to retain Glow TV on Openview and we respect the
arbitration order".
"We always
strive to bring our viewers the best content and will continue to monitor the
channel to ensure that we are delivering to the required audience standards."
"Openiew
continues to grow in popularity and we are activated in just under 2.7 million
homes across South Africa."
