Soccer deal rattles three providers

Pay Tv service providers Multichoice, StarTimes and Azam Tv are under investigations for allegedly blocking certain Tv channels from airing during the World Cup games in a move that may have short-changed consumers.

The three service providers who own the infrastructure through which Tv channels supply content to the consumers have the ability to overreach if they so desire.

The firms are being investigated in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for also failing to compensate the affected consumers for the inconvenience caused.

Target countries

“The Commission became aware that Pay TV service providers: Multichoice Africa Holdings; Azam Media Limited; and StarTimes Group, through their subsidiaries blocked certain regional television channels from airing during the World Cup period 2022,” said the Comesa Competition Commission in a statement.

Consumers affected by the move may have subscribed for the bouquets in the interest of having access to all the TV channels listed in the bouquet, including regional programmes and new, says the Commission in a statement.

“It is also possible that some consumers may have purchased the bouquets specifically to watch the World Cup through the affected channels. In this case, the consumers may have been misled by the Pay TV service providers in terms of composition of the bouquet, and this may be in breach of Article 27 (1)(a) of the Regulations,” said the Commission.

It also emerged that, when the Pay TV providers blocked certain TV channels, consumers may have been inconvenienced and denied access to content that they had pre-paid for.

“Switching off the channels which are already paid for may have disenfranchised the consumers especially where they were not compensated for the loss,” the Commission added.

This may be considered as an unfair and unconscionable conduct towards the consumers and a possible breach of the Regulations under Article 28(1).

The regulator’s concern is that the Pay TV service providers, to whom consumers had paid their subscriptions, did not offer redress or compensation to the affected customers.

The authority however clarified that the commencement of investigations neither presupposes that the conduct being investigated is an unfair business practice nor that the Pay TV companies have violated the Regulations.

The Commission will, in accordance with the provisions of Part 5 of the Regulations, conduct an investigation to determine whether the alleged conduct has violated the Regulations.