The 2022 FIFA World Cup was widely endorsed by football fans allover the world. Statistics indicate that at least 550 million viewers tuned in to watch the opener as Ecuador beat hosts Qatar.
FIFA would go on to state that ‘around five billion people’ altogether engaged with the World Cup. But quite a number, especially here in Africa, missed the games on TV.
According to a notice issued by the COMESA Competition Commission, 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.
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However, no compensation was provided to affected consumers for the inconvenience caused.
Under normal circumstances, if someone pays for pay TV specifically to watch the World Cup and the pay TV provider blocks channels showing the World Cup, the pay TV provider may be liable to compensate the customer.
However, this would depend on the specific terms and conditions of the contract between the customer and the pay TV provider.
If the pay TV provider guaranteed access to the World Cup as part of their service, and they fail to provide this access, then the customer may be entitled to compensation. However, if the pay TV provider had the right to block channels showing the World Cup for reasons outside of their control (such as licensing issues), they may not be liable.
In Uganda, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), the national broadcaster was broadcasting some but not all of the games of the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup. While the station had secured rights to broadcast some of the games, their rights only allowed them to broadcast 28 of the 64 games played throughout the entire tournament.
It is not clear which stations were particularly blocked from airing the games. But the COMESA Competition Commission notice points out that consumers may have subscribed for the bouquets in the interest to have access to the list of all the TV channels listed in the bouquet, including regional programs and news.
“It is also possible that some consumers may have purchased the bouquets specifically to watch World Cup through the affected channels. In this case, the consumers may have been misled by the Pay TV service providers in terms of composition of the bouquet,” it adds.
The Commission is now undertaking investigations into possible violations of Articles 27 and 28 of the Regulations by various Pay TV service providers.
