The pay-TV operator had agreed to pay SABC 500 million rand ($35 million) in the 2013 deal.
At the time, the commission said the agreement had the effect of protecting MultiChoice’s dominance in the pay-TV market.
South Africa’s competition watchdog has ruled that a distribution deal between MultiChoice, Naspers’ pay-TV business and the country’s public broadcaster in 2013 constituted a notifiable merger.
The Competition Commision said MultiChoice, Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) could face disciplinary action if they do not register the transaction as a merger under the Competition Act.
The ruling goes against a 2016 decision by the country’s Competition Tribunal that the deal did not constitute a merger.
The pay-TV operator had agreed to pay SABC 500 million rand ($35 million) in the 2013 deal, which among other aspects, prevented the public broadcaster from encrypting any of its free to air channels in South Africa’s migration to digital terrestrial television.
At the time, the commission said the agreement had the effect of protecting MultiChoice’s dominance in the pay-TV market.
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