eMedia loses bid to screen Rugby World Cup

eMedia has failed in its bid to broadcast matches from the Rugby World Cup in France after the Johannesburg high court rejected its case against MultiChoice, SuperSport and the SABC.

eMedia, the owner and operator of e.tv, had disputed MultiChoice’s decision not to allow the SABC to air Rugby World Cup 2023 matches on e.tv’s competing free-to-air satellite platform, Openview, where SABC already screens some of its programmes.

“The effect of the high court’s decision is that the position remains that the Springbok matches at the Rugby World Cup will continue to be broadcast only on SuperSport and the SABC,” MultiChoice said. “The matches are not broadcast via OpenView HD because eMedia has at no stage purchased or even attempted to purchase the rights concerned.”

The court ordered eMedia to pay the costs of MultiChoice and SuperSport, including three counsel.

eMedia’s main contention was over the restrictions that MultiChoice placed on a sublicencing deal with the SABC.

In essence, MultiChoice can dictate how and where the SABC can air Rugby World Cup matches. In this case, the state broadcaster was not allowed do so via Open View, which has 3.2-million customers and would probably drive up its viewership. 

Recently, the government stepped in and paid more than R50m together with three sponsors so that the SABC could screen some of Rugby World Cup 2023. The SABC and MultiChoice had been locked in protracted negotiations over the showcase event until the department of sport intervened. 

eMedia, which has been vocal in its opposition of MultiChoice’s apparent monopoly of sport broadcasting in SA, bought full-page adverts in a number of publications at the weekend, including the Sunday Times, announcing it had taken legal action against MultiChoice.

MultiChoice, which regards Openview as direct competition to its DStv platform, argues that eMedia should have worked to acquire its own rights to air the rugby matches. The SABC primarily broadcasts via terrestrial channels and offers some programmes on Openview. It also recently started an online streaming service.

“eMedia’s case is a classic example of free riding — seeking to profit off another’s expense without contributing at all,” MultiChoice SA’s CEO Marc Jury said in an affidavit before the Johannesburg high court.

MultiChoice dominates the market partly because it has exclusive contracts for premium and international content, such as high-profile rugby matches, the local Premier Soccer League, the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and the Uefa Champions League.

The SABC has also had issues with the way in which MultiChoice structures its sub-licencing agreements.

In 2022, the SABC filed a complaint with the Competition Commission against DStv’s SuperSport, arguing the company had resorted to anticompetitive and exclusionary behaviour.

The SABC contended that MultiChoice, which holds the rights of many of the lucrative sporting codes largely because of its financial muscle, places unfair restrictions on where the public broadcaster can flight sublicensed matches. The public broadcaster generally buys the rights to air matches via MultiChoice, which monopolises sports coverage.

Tuesday’s high court decision comes a week after the SABC and MultiChoice once again failed to reach a sub-licensing agreement for the ICC Cricket World Cup in India that stated on October 5. 

gavazam@businesslive.co.za