NAIROBI, Kenya, April 5 – The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is probing a suspected violation of consumer rights by a leading pay TV provider in Kenya.
COMESA’s Competition Commission says that Multichoice Africa Holdings, through its subsidiary, blocked certain regional channels from airing during last year’s World Cup competition in the country.
Others that are being investigated include Azam Media Limited and StarTimes Group in Uganda and Rwanda.
The competition body says that the providers violated Articles 27 and 28 of the COMESA Competition Regulations (“the Regulations”).
While Article 27 of the Regulations prohibits persons in trade or commerce from giving false or misleading representations to the consumer, Article 28 prohibits them from engaging in conduct that is, in all the circumstances, unconscionable.
“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,” the Commission’s Director and CEO, Willard Mwemba, 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.
It has invited stakeholders as well as affected consumers to submit their views by April 15, 2023.
“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,” it added.
“Switching off the channels that are already paid for may have disenfranchised the consumers, especially where they were not compensated for the loss.”
