A 12-year-old competition case lands on Canal+’s desk

The Competition Commission has signalled it is open to settlement talks with MultiChoice over its allegation that the pay-TV operator entered into a 2014 market-division pact with set-top box manufacturer Altech UEC.

The regulator’s head of cartels has explicitly invited MultiChoice’s new French parent, Canal+, to negotiate rather than face full prosecution at the Competition Tribunal.

Speaking on Business Day TV after the commission referred MultiChoice and Altech UEC to the tribunal earlier this week, the commission’s head of cartels, Makgale Mohlala, said the regulator’s “doors are open” to settlement discussions (watch the interview below).

Mohlala suggested in the interview that the commission would welcome engagement with Canal+ as MultiChoice’s parent. “We are saying that we are ready to engage with them – once they are ready to engage.”

The alternative – a contested tribunal hearing followed by potential administrative penalties of up to 10% of annual turnover – would be a financially significant overhang for Canal+ at the moment it is trying to integrate MultiChoice into its broader African pay-TV strategy.

According to Mohlala, the commission’s case is that MultiChoice “discovered” Altech UEC was preparing to launch the Altech Node – a satellite-connected video-on-demand and smart-home device – and “objected”, before allegedly using its position as Altech UEC’s largest decoder customer to extract an agreement that Altech would not enter the pay-TV market in competition with it.

‘Important customer’

The commission has described this as a market-division contravention under the Competition Act.

Mohlala said the regulator was not investigating whether money changed hands, only the existence of the agreement itself. “We don’t investigate money changing hands. We investigate the agreement,” he said.

The Node was launched in September 2014, seven months after the alleged agreement was formalised. At the time, Altech CEO Craig Venter told TechCentral the device was not a direct challenge to MultiChoice, which he described as an important customer of the group through Altech UEC. Venter also said Altech had offered MultiChoice the option of partnering on the launch, but that those talks didn’t lead anywhere.

Read: How much the Node cost Altron

The Node carried no linear pay-TV channels and was sold as a video-on-demand and smart-home product. It launched at R3 499 with a R299 monthly subscription, struggled to gain retail traction and was wound down by Altron – which then owned Altech UEC – by late 2015. Subscribers were refunded R1 999 per device.

Both MultiChoice and Altron have denied the commission’s allegations.

In a statement shared with TechCentral on Monday, Altron Group said it was “aware of the Competition Commission’s referral of a complaint involving MultiChoice South Africa and Altech UEC South Africa to the Competition Tribunal.

“As a business committed to operating legally and ethically, Altron has fully cooperated with the Competition Commission throughout this process and welcomes the opportunity to participate in the tribunal proceedings in accordance with its established practice.”

For its part, MultiChoice said the “alleged conduct relates to a historical supply agreement concluded with a key supplier of set-top boxes, which came to an end in 2015”.

“MultiChoice firmly denies any breach of competition law regarding this former agreement. We are considering the referral and will respond fully within the prescribed timelines.”

The referral arrives in a corporate landscape that bears little resemblance to the one in which the alleged conduct took place. Altron sold Altech UEC in 2019 to Chinese-owned Skyblu Technologies, which is in turn controlled by Shenzhen Skyworth Digital Technology.

Read: MultiChoice, Altech face prosecution over alleged pay-TV collusion

Even the product at the centre of the dispute is long gone. The Node failed commercially within 14 months of launch. The commission has not explained what prompted it to refer a 12-year-old matter now.  – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media