Appeal court orders MultiChoice, DSTV to hand show license to Metro Digital

MultiChoice, the parent company of subscription-based cable tv, DSTV and GOTV, has been ordered by the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to share its contents with rival, Metro Digital Limited.

Metro Digital Limited, a local paytv, had filed a suit against MultiChoice in a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, after the South African entertainment company rejected a request from the former to sublicense channels and programmes to Metro Digital.

MultiChoice claimed that it can’t share the license to the programmes requested by Metro Digital because it doesn’t own them, unlike shows owned by the South African company.

In response, Metrol Digital filed a case against MultiChoice in the high court last year, to compel the latter into sharing the requested programmes, however, the court ruled against the plaintiff.

Read also:MultiChoice faces cash constraint in Nigeria, reduces funds in country’s market to $133m

The case was taken to the appeal court, and on Wednesday, Judge Olabode Adegbehingbe supported the suit of Metro Digital, ordering MultiChoice to sublicense the channels within 21 days, under the supervision of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Recall that the NBC had amended the broadcasting code to break the monopoly in the cable tv market, increasing rights to a programme, and eliminating exclusivity to a show.

The NBC code is meant to increase the number of players in the paytv, and allow competition, considering several Nigerian-owned cable tv companies have shutdown due to MultiChoice monopoly on customer-driven programmes.

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