SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: Penalties and free kicks await broadcasters in new TV plans
Have a great idea, create a business, build it into a substantial operation and then, when latecomers look on your success and complain they can't get a slice of the action, you face potential regulation to level the playing field. That is how MultiChoice, which owns M-Net, DStv, SuperSport and Showmax, might be viewing things lately, especially after the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) last week released its draft findings on the inquiry into subscription TV broadcasting services. But it's not that simple: a big business can limit competition simply due to its entrenched position, and that is what Icasa is looking to remedy in order to rectify the current practice of "winner takes all". Unsurprisingly, Icasa's report says MultiChoice has "significant market power on the basis of high market shares and the nature of its vertical integration", which it considers to "harm competition". There is a lot to mull over in this 184-page document, but some of the salient po...
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