The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has finally given a verdict which ordered the South African company, MultiChoice to sublicense some of its channels to Metro Digital.
Metro Digital had sued the operators of DStv and Gotv in Nigeria, while relying on the code of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC). The NBC and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture were co-defendants.
Read Also: Lawyer, Group Disagree With MultiChoice On Tribunal
The applicant took MultiChoice to court in 2021 after the latter rejected a sub-license.
Metro Digital initially lost the suit at the High Court, but filed an appeal against it.
On Wednesday, Justice Olabode Adegbehingbe, ordered MultiChoice to sublicense the channels within 21 days. The judge said the NBC violated its statutory duties for refusing to issue directives to the complaints by Metro Digital.
Justice Adegbehingbe faulted the High Court for striking out the name of the third respondent.
“The appeal is highly successful and the judgment of lower court dismissing the entirety of the appellant is hereby set aside”, he said.
The judge issued an order compelling the second respondent to heed directives of the appellant’s complaints against the first respondent pursuant to the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (6th edition) as amended.
It had been previously reported that a legal practitioner, Festus Onifade has disagreed with MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, the operator of DStv and Gotv, over the firm’s application challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal in a suit filed against it over alleged tariffs hike.
Onifade and Coalition of Nigeria Consumers (CNC), in a counter-affidavit filed before a Federal Competition and Consumer Protection (FCCPC) Tribunal sitting in Abuja described the prayers by MultiChoice as “incongruous.”
Onifade and CNC are 1st and 2nd claimants, MultiChoice and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) are 1st and 2nd defendants respectively.
The company, in a motion on notice dated April 13 and filed April 14 by Toyin Pinheiro, SAN, had prayed the three-member tribunal headed by Thomas Okosun for an order staying execution of the order it made on April 11 pending the determination of the instant application.
It also sought for an order setting aside and discharging the order the tribunal made on April 11 having been made without jurisdiction.
MultiChoice, which gave five grounds why its application should be considered, said the motion was brought pursuant to Section 39(1) and (2) and Section 47 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection (FCCP) Act 2018, and under the inherent jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The company said it filed an application on March 31 challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal and that while the application was pending and yet to be determined, “this honourable court made an order on the 11th day of April, 2022 directing the applicant to maintain status quo ante bellum which in effect directs the applicant to comply with the order of the Tribunal of the 30th day of March 2022.”
