by Thinus Ferreira
The Competition Appeal Court has ordered MultiChoice to put four e.tv-supplied TV channels from eMedia back on DStv.
The ruling comes after MultiChoice decided not to extend the channels carriage contract, after which eMedia took the Randburg-based satellite pay-TV operator to the Competition Commission where the Competition Tribunal initially ruled in MultiChoice's favour.
After MultiChoice dropped the collection of e.tv-packaged channels including eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz from DStv on 30 May, eMedia took the case to the Competition Appeal Court.
These 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.
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-day a week eNuus Afrikaans TV news bulletin packaged by eNCA and supplied to M-Net's kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) channels.
MultiChoice told the Competition Tribunal during hearings in April that it had satellite transponder capacity constraints and that eMedia's TV channels don't fit into its 5-year strategy. eMedia showed that MultiChoice did have enough satellite capacity.
Following the Competition Appeal Court judgment, MultiChoice must now put the four e.tv channels back on DStv for another six months, pending a Competition Commission investigation into the case.
Monday night e.tv in a statement said: "After an appeal of the Competition Tribunal it has been ordered that our channels eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz be reinstated on the DStv platform".
Monday night MultiChoice said: "We are aware of the decision made by the Competition Appeal Court in favour of eMedia. We are considering the court's decision to grant the order requiring us to carry the four eMedia channels for a limited period of six months while the Competition Commission conducts its investigation".
