Instead of getting the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup on its Openview satellite service, eMedia will have to pay legal costs after its court case against MultiChoice was been struck off the roll by the Johannesburg High Court.
The free ride is over
MultiChoice said it was “vindicated” after the urgent interdict hearing was dismissed, and said eMedia was “directed” by the court to pay its legal costs, as well as those of its subsidiary SuperSport, including the counsel.
“The effect of the High Court’s decision is that the position remains that the Springbok matches at the Rugby World Cup will continue to be broadcast only on SuperSport and the SABC,” MultiChoice said in a statement sent to Stuff. “The matches are not broadcast via OpenView HD because eMedia has at no stage purchased or even attempted to purchase the rights concerned.”
Read more: MultiChoice sues eMedia back over “free riding” Rugby World Cup rights
MultiChoice SA CEO Marc Jury, in his replying affidavit, said: “eMedia’s case is a classic example of free riding — seeking to profit off another’s expense without contributing at all.”
SuperSport says it invests R3.3 billion into South African sports every year, while its cumulative contribution has been over R14.4 billion for the past 5 years.
