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MultiChoice will not renew 24-hour news channel ANN7’s contract when it expires in July this year. However, the video entertainment and internet company will be hosting a new black-owned news channel and there will soon be a call for proposals from interested media groups.
The black-owned news channel will serve to represent a diversity of views and to represent the majority of South Africans.
Calvo Mawela, chief executive of MultiChoice said they met with the recent owner of ANN7 Mzwanele Manyi and that he had accepted the position of the pay-TV service.
“Mistakes have been made in relation to contractual negotiations and they have affected the level of public trust in MultiChoice. We apologise for our mistakes.
“But there is no evidence of corruption or any illegal activity. We should have acknowledged the concerns that were raised around this; [they] should have been escalated to the board sooner,” he said of MultiChoice’s audit and risk committee findings.
This followed controversial payments that MultiChoice made to state broadcaster, the SABC, as well as ANN7, which was previously owned by the Gupta family. Allegations were widespread that the pay-TV platform was party to state capture.
READ: MultiChoice accused of ‘kickbacks’ in SABC deal
"The R25-million upfront payment to ANN7 in 2015 was neither abnormal nor unusual. It was an advanced payment on a renegotiated contract and other channels have received money as part of the channel negotiations," said Mawela.
“It is common practice to pay for content, including local news channels. We paid ANN7 a total of more than R100 million but we are not part of state capture.”
MultiChoice has been accused of influencing the state broadcaster to opt for unencrypted set-top boxes in order for them to maintain its dominance and monopoly of the television industry in South Africa.
Some of the key findings of the committee include failing to conduct due diligence around ANN7, not raising concerns about ANN7 and its associates, poor management of communication around ANN7 and lobbying efforts, and it was also found that the commercial terms of the contract were within acceptable parameters associated with the establishment and cost of producing a news channel.
READ: Gupta-tv to be 'axed'
Meanwhile, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will be conducting an investigation into payments made to the SABC and ANN7 and the Democratic Alliance is the kingpin of such a probe.
Icasa has not yet contacted MultiChoice or lodged a complaint, said Mawela.
Disclosure: City Press is part of Media24 which is a subsidiary of Naspers. MultiChoice is also a subsidiary of Naspers.
