Competition Commission lets MultiChoice, SuperSport off the hook

The Competition Commission on Tuesday announced that it would not be prosecuting MultiChoice and its SuperSport channels following complaints of "abuse of dominance".

In a statement, commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said they had doubts that a case against the broadcasting giant would succeed.

"Following its investigation, the commission has decided not to prosecute because there are no reasonable prospects of success and a regulatory intervention would be more effective," said Ngwema.

Complaints against MultiChoice and SuperSport surfaced between 2012 and 2017. Among the list of complaints was that MultiChoice was abusing its dominance in the subscription TV market by not allowing consumers to pick and choose the channels they wanted.

The commission also received complaints alleging that MultiChoice had exclusivity over sports content because it is the only broadcaster of the SuperSport channels. As a result, premium live sports could only be viewed by those who subscribed to the DStv Premium bouquet, which costs more than its other packages.

Ngwema said the commission's probe found that the subscription TV market was highly concentrated and there were barriers to entering the market. It also found that there was a lack of credible alternative buyers of sports content other than MultiChoice.

"Whilst the commission is concerned of the likely market failure, it is of the view that there can be more targeted regulatory interventions to foster competition and make this market competitive," said Ngwema.

He added that the commission was aware of the ongoing inquiry into subscription broadcasting services that is currently being carried out by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa).

"The commission will continue to contribute to the inquiry and support the work of Icasa, in line with the terms of the existing memorandum of understanding between the two regulators," said Ngwema.