The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has launched an investigation into a case of suspected customer violation by Multichoice Holdings.
According to a “commission”, Multichoice Africa, through a subsidiary company, blocked certain regional channels from airing during 2022’s World Cup.
The competition commission body says that the providers violated Articles 27 and 28 of the COMESA Competition Regulations.
Among those being investigated include Azam Tv and StarTimes Group in Uganda and Rwanda.
The Commission’s Director and CEO, Willard Mwemba, said no compensation was provided to affected consumers for the inconvenience caused during the World Cup season.
“Notice is hereby given that pursuant to Article 8, the COMESA Competition Commission (“the Commission”) has commenced investigations into possible violations of by various Pay TV service providers,” he said.
“The Commission became aware that Pay TV service providers: Multichoice Africa Holdings; Azam Media Limited; and StarTimes Group, through their subsidiaries blocked certain regional television channels from airing during the World Cup period 2022, in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, however, no compensation was provided to affected consumers for the inconvenience caused,” Mwemba added.
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Article 27 of the commission’s regulations prohibits persons in trade from giving false or misleading representations to the consumer and Article 28 prohibits them from engaging in conduct that is, in all circumstances, unconscionable.
“Further, when the Pay TV providers blocked certain TV channels, consumers may have been inconvenienced and denied access to content that they had pre-paid for,” the commission added.
“Switching off the channels that are already paid for may have disenfranchised the consumers, especially where they were not compensated for the loss.”