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Regulator pushes DStv to resell English league content

DSTV

Participants follow a presentation by MultiChoice, providers of the DStv service. CCK is drawing rules that will compel MultiChoice to re-sell some of its exclusive content like the English Premier League rights to its rivals. Photo/File

The telecoms industry regulator is drawing rules that will compel MultiChoice, the owners of DStv, to re-sell some of its exclusive content like the English Premier League rights to its rivals.

The Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) says it will host a stakeholders’ meeting next month to seek the input of the pay-TV operators in the push to share their exclusive content for a fee.

The move is aimed at reducing the dominance of DStv, which is the subject of an investigation by the Competition Authority, which is seeking to establish whether or not DStv has unwarranted concentration of economic power that makes it lock the majority of Pay-TV viewers to its network and ultimately making it difficult for other players to break even.

DStv rivals led by Wananchi Group have been calling on the regulator to compel MultiChoice to sell them some of its contents, especially the English Premier League, which it has used to grow and defend its market share.

READ: Report wants DStv to share football rights with its rivals

“What we want to do is to have a consultative stake holders meeting to come up with guidelines on how the firms can share the exclusive rights,” said Francis Wangusi, the acting Director General of CCK.

“We will then forward the input from the meeting to our ministry which would then formulate a policy which will make it a regulatory obligation for the providers to share such content.”

He said this method had been adopted in some countries such as Nigeria, UK and Italy and is not only meant to increase competition but also to ensure that end users can access such content from providers of their choice.

In the UK, the industry regulator instructed Sky—which had the exclusive rights to the English Premier League to re-sell them to Virgin Media which is a cable pay television.

In Nigeria, a similar battle for premium content pitted DStv against local pay-TV operator HiTV in 2010, with the former wresting the rights to air lucrative English Premier League matches from the Nigerian company.

“In some parts of the world this is already happening and will be looking forward to the meeting so that we can offer our contribution on how it can be done here,” said Richard Bell, the Chief executive of Wananchi Group.

Multichoice Kenya on Thursday said they would participate in the talks called by the regulator.

The firm has maintained a stranglehold on the region’s pay-TV segment for the last 20 years, managing to win a loyal following of about three million subscribers in several African markets.

It recently moved to diversify its product offering by delving into mobile TV products, launching a new service that will allow mobile subscribers to watch satellite television on their handsets at a low cost.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice tightens grip on Africa with Nairobi hub

Entrants into the segment say the incumbent is monopolising content thereby hampering the growth of the industry.

Smart TV early this month on low uptake of it service and inadequate funding, making it the second pay-television operator in Kenya to close shop after GTV fell into financial distress in 2009.

The quest to share content comes as CCK is preparing to license 168 operators in the sector with a bias for a business model dubbed video in demand.

This model allows subscribers to buy specific programmes instead of packages that have made the pay-TV market expensive and forced consumers to buy content they have no interest in.

The CCK decision follows a study it had commissioned and released in March to look into competitiveness in the sector.

The study, conducted by Deloitte, indicated that the monthly subscription fees remain high in Kenya compared to other developing nations, a factor that could be locking out many from accessing the service.

The study also found that asking the English Premier League rights’ holder to re-sell content to competitors would increase the access of pay TV by consumers and that DStv would still earn revenue through the arrangement.

At present, the model proposed by Deloitte is practised in France, UK and Italy.

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