Now eMedia withdraws rugby rights high court challenge

eMedia Holdings, the parent of Openview, has withdrawn its case against MultiChoice Group over the right to broadcast the Rugby World Cup and agreed to pay all parties’ costs.

eMedia took MultiChoice to court after it emerged that a sublicensing deal between the pay-television broadcaster and the SABC to flight Rugby World Cup matches specifically precluded those games from being shown on Openview –eMedia’s free-to-air satellite platform that carries the SABC channels.

“Almost immediately after filing an application before the Competition Tribunal, eMedia has now formally abandoned its high court litigation and will have to pay MultiChoice’s legal costs. This confirms our view that the eMedia litigation was entirely without merit,” a MultiChoice spokesman told TechCentral.

The fight is now headed to South Africa’s competition authorities.

eMedia said on Tuesday that it had filed a complaint with the Competition Commission and papers with the Competition Tribunal over MultiChoice’s refusal to allow Rugby World Cup and Cricket World Cup games sublicensed to the SABC to be carried on Openview.

Last week, eMedia lost round one of its court challenge, with the court finding that the matter was not urgent. The company has contended that the SABC should not be prevented from utilising whichever platforms it chooses to broadcast its programming.

Interim relief

eMedia’s group executive for legal and business affairs, Philippa Rafferty, said: “Due to the court striking the matter from the roll for urgency, we have decided to withdraw the high court matter for now while we proceed with our complaint to the Competition Commission and application to the Competition Tribunal for interim relief. We will reconsider the high court matter in due time. We are still confident of the merits of the case.”

Read: MultiChoice comes out guns blazing in rugby rights battle

Responding to eMedia’s latest move, MultiChoice said: “This is the third attempt by eMedia to launch urgent proceedings in the last two weeks – with the first two attempts being rightly rejected by the high court. eMedia decided not to acquire the broadcasting rights in any form. It cannot now use the judicial system to ‘free-ride’ on the investments made by MultiChoice. MultiChoice considers the latest application to be entirely without merit and will oppose it vigorously.”  — © 2023 NewsCentral Media

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