eMedia to pursue legal action against DStv’s removal of four channels

eMedia, the owner and operator of e.tv, plans to explore every legal option to overturn DStv’s decision to remove four of its channels from the platform.

The company in its annual report published on Monday criticised competition authorities for not adequately addressing DStv’s market dominance and is signalling that it will challenge this decision through legal means. 

The frustration comes after the Competition Commission ruled that DStv’s removal of E.tv Extra, eToonz, eMovies and eMovies Extra did not amount to anticompetitive behaviour and that the media company was not harmed by the channel removals. 

eMedia is now pursuing legal action to address the potential financial threat posed by these removals. 

“It is concerning that the matter of dominance seems to be overlooked in a market where DStv commands approximately 9-million out of about 12-million satellite homes. This absolute dominance has a significant impact on eMedia’s revenue as the loss of advertising revenue from the audience viewing the channels on DStv will severely affect eMedia’s ability to compete and acquire quality content,” said group CEO Khalik Sherrif.

Sherrif said that although eMedia continued to fight for the channels to remain on the DStv platform, it must urgently address the drop in advertising revenue. The company would also explore other methods to make up for the lost revenue. 

On the group’s financial performance, eMedia reported that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year were R628.3m, compared with the previous year’s R667.2m. 

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“This decrease is mainly due to the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strike dampening Media Film Service’s performance, as well as an increase in marketing expenditure of about R20m and an increase in legal costs of about R8.8m incurred to maintain a consistent audience and revenue share,” eMedia said.

The group reported advertising revenue of R2.3bn in the year to end-March, demonstrating strong performance in both the television and radio sectors. Sherrif attributed the achievement to the group’s ability to maintain a prime-time audience market share of 33.5% in the year under review compared with 34.5% in 2023. 

“Considering challenges like continued load-shedding, currency fluctuations, increased legal and marketing costs, and the Hollywood strike, it’s important to contextualise this profit. However, eMedia remains optimistic about its financial performance given the circumstances. The company is focused on achieving exceptional results by March 2025, reaffirming its commitment to delivering sustained value to stakeholders,” Sherrif. 

The group is focused on technological advancements and premium local content, which it sees as the cornerstone of its future strength. Initiatives in this area include eVod, which is positioned as the Netflix of SA, its Snap-e app and Openview set-top boxes. 

“E.tv continues to lead the group and maintains a market share of approximately 34%. The content team’s primary objective is to sustain this market share moving forward. Openview, another key component of the group, has successfully achieved its objectives and is positioned to replicate its success in the upcoming fiscal year,” Sherrif said. 

In addition, eMedia channels available on Openview consistently ranked among the top 20 satellite channels nationwide, indicating strong performance and audience engagement, eMedia said. “The group is pleased with the growing market share of its channels on Openview and further growth in audience market share is anticipated with the increasing activations of Openview set-top boxes.”

In addition to Openview’s revenue exceeding R600m, up from R500m the previous year, eMedia’s four channels ranked among the top 10 satellite channels in the country for the year to end-March.

majavun@businesslive.co.za