The Competition Commission has elected not to refer complaints against pay-television operator MultiChoice and its SuperSport subsidiary to the Competition Tribunal.
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Spotify Technology has acquired podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor FM, a declaration that their specialty is the next big area of growth for the world’s largest paid music service.
Paid music streaming looks set to overtake free services for the first time later this year, as more people opt to pay for the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
Apple investors are likely looking for the company to use its massive cash pile to make acquisitions, and names like Netflix, Activision Blizzard and Sonos are among those JPMorgan sees as strong strategic fits.
The SABC has put its retrenchment plan on hold following “constructive and extensive” engagements with various stakeholders.
The financial distressed SABC failed to pay its employees on time this month, but the public broadcaster has said it’s not because it’s run out of money. Instead, it has blamed a “glitch” at its bank for the problem.
Three media companies have collectively been fined tens of millions of rand for price fixing and the fixing of trading conditions. The Competition Commission wants the firms to cough up for their “cartel conduct”.
MultiChoice will carry losses incurred by Showmax in the “medium term”, but the goal is eventually for the streaming television service to turn a profit once broadband infrastructure in South Africa and the rest of the continent has been built out further to support it.
Streaming services pose a significant threat to MultiChoice’s future growth potential, but they are by no means the only risks exercising the minds of the pay-television operator’s management team.
Multichoice Africa Group will list in the “broadcasting and entertainment” sector on the main board of the JSE on 27 February 2019, the pay-TV operator said in a statement after markets closed on Monday.