By: Natasha Archary

Multichoice has been dealt a blow after the Competition Tribunal granted eMedia interim rights to have all sporting broadcast restrictions lifted.
This after Multichoice and the SABC reached an agreement in September over the broadcast rights of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The SABC and MultiChoice were locked in nail-biting protracted talks for the Rugby World Cup until a late intervention from the Department of Sport and the acquisition of three sponsors who paid more than R50 million allowed the public broadcaster to carry a small section of the event.
In October 2023, eMedia lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission and filed papers before the Competition Tribunal regarding a provision in the sub-licensing agreements which were concluded between Multichoice and the SABC.
The agreement prevents the SABC from using third-party owned platforms to transmit SABC channel which broadcast national sporting events.
Shortly after the Rugby World Cup, millions of South Africans missed the 2023 Cricket World Cup because Multichoice and the SABC failed to reach a sub-licensing agreement.
On Monday, 15 April, Multichoice was ordered to lift all restrictions to broadcasting sporting events of national interest, whether it is soccer, rugby or cricket, on its Openview channels, effective immediately.
“We have taken issue with the attempts by Multichoice to bully the SABC in preventing a portion of the South African population from being able to access and view these events on Openview.
We are satisfied that our perseverance to stop Multichoice’s anti-competitive behaviour has paid off. More so, we are delighted that the interest of the hundreds of thousands of viewers that rely on Openview for purposes of accessing the SABC’s channels and who were precluded from viewing the Rugby World Cup, and cricket matches because of the restriction imposed by SuperSport has been heard.”
Multichoice has not responded to the decision on the sporting broadcast restrictions being lifted.
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