A planned directive by the Nigerian government to end exclusive rights in broadcasting major sporting events in the country could cause massive damage to the “African sports economy”, says MultiChoice.
A media statement issued in January by Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said he had instructed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to implement a regulation mandating exclusive licensees and broadcasters to share exclusive rights with other broadcasters.
The intention, according to Nigeria Communications Week, was to break up a broadcasting monopoly in order to “boost reach and maximise utilisation by all Nigeria’s broadcasters of quality content, in order to grow their respective platforms and investment in more content”.
The clear target is MultiChoice, which has a monopoly on the broadcast of English Premier League football matches. These rights are regarded as the crown jewel for MultiChoice across Africa, as it is one major – and immensely popular – feature that cannot be offered by streaming video-on-demand services at this stage.
“With the new directive, Nigeria’s TV viewers, especially lovers of sports, may come to witness an end to MultiChoice’s monopoly on the live airing of major sporting events,” reported Nigeria Communications Week.
However, MultiChoice has pointed out that investment in sports rights has a massive impact on the sports economy.
“The investment in sports provides substantial revenues for national sporting bodies, which sustain thousands of jobs throughout the value chain,” Joe Heshu, MultiChoice group executive for corporate affairs , told Gadget. “The sports economy enables the discovery of talent on and off the field, develops infrastructure, and uplifts communities. The African sports economy is largely funded through the sale of broadcasting rights.”
While the company has not responded publicly to the government statement, it is clear that intensive lobbying is taking place behind the scenes.
“MultiChoice routinely deals with regulatory matters in markets on the African continent where we have a presence,” said Heshu. “We are aware of the statement by the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture regarding recommendations to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on proposed amendments to the NBC Code. We are guided by and complying with the current NBC Code and the Copyright Laws.”
Heshu said the regulator had not informed MultiChoice directly about the move.
“The NBC is the independent regulator that regulates the industry in the public interest and we have not received any indications from the regulator on this matter. We will continue to constructively engage the authorities in Nigeria in the interest of providing a thriving broadcasting sector.”
Read more below about MultiChoice’s local content plans.
MultiChoice local content plans
Meanwhile, MultiChoice is proceeding aggressively with plans to build out an original and local content roster that will allow it to compete more directly with streaming services in South Africa.
Six months ago, it said it would align with the consumer move way from “linear TV”, setting a target of 45% local content by 2022, and planning to produce 52 films and 29 new local dramas this year.
“Our local content has performed very well over the years and continues to resonate with our customers and we are well on target to achieve our target of 45% of content creation spend being on local content by 2022,” said Heshu this week. “This not only results in a video entertainment industry that’s sustainable into the future, but it allows us to continue investing in new local stories that our customers love.
“The amazing hits that kicked off in the latter part of 2019 include Ifalakhe, Impilo: The Scam, Trackers and Kwa MaMkhize. Our customers can look forward to even more over the next three months and beyond, including the likes of Mzali Wam, Still Breathing, The Station and Madame among others.”
MultiChoice is expected to launch a standalone DStv Now streaming service next month, competing head-on with Netflix. Its Showmax streaming service is performing strongly, while it has succeeded in making DStv Now compatible with most app platforms after initial technical limitations.
“We have seen good growth in our Over the Top (OTT) offering in the recent times,” said Heshu. “We’re seeing many of our customers using our OTT platforms like Showmax and DStv Now to enjoy watching the appealing content that we offer or rent the latest blockbusters from BoxOffice.”
MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela first announced in mid-2018 said that the company would launch a “dishless” version of DStv as a video streaming service the following year. However, in November the company revealed that the launch had been pushed out to the end of the first quarter of 2020.
* The comments from MultiChoice were attributed to Benedict Maaga, senior manager for corporate communications, in an earlier version of this report. This has been corrected above.