MultiChoice Africa will withdraw all DStv from Malawi with immediate effect following an injunction issued to MultiChoice Malawi (MCM) by the High Court in Lilongwe.

The injunction – which followed a court application by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) – prohibits the pay-television operator, through its subsidiary, MultiChoice Malawi, from implementing price increases for DStv in the Southern African country.

“MultiChoice Malawi (MCM) does not offer the DStv service to the public and therefore cannot set or adjust tariffs for this service, a point repeatedly made to Macra,” MultiChoice Africa said in a statement earlier this week.

“As a result, MCM is incapable of implementing the order handed down to it [by the regulator]. The order, however, carries grave consequences for the directors and management of MultiChoice Malawi, including imprisonment. Multichoice Africa Holdings is therefore left with no option but to terminate the DStv service indefinitely.”

Keabetswe Modimoeng, the corporate affairs and stakeholder relations executive for MultiChoice Africa Holdings told TechCentral that MCM is the licensed operator for GOtv in Malawi.

MCM must – and does – seek approval from Macra when it wants to increase tariffs for GOtv, its digital terrestrial TV broadcasting offering.

The trouble in Malawi

DStv, on the other hand, is offered to the public by MultiChoice Africa, with MultiChoice Malawi only appointed by MultiChoice Africa to provide subscription management service to DStv customers. This means that although DStv customers interface with MultiChoice Malawi, MCM does not own DStv, MultiChoice Africa Holdings does – and that business “is not a licensee” of Macra.

“The regulator wants to exercise power over a service it does not have control over,” said Modimoeng. DStv subscribers, meanwhile, are left with no choice but to say goodbye to their favourite shows.

“Customers are hereby, and with immediate effect, requested to halt payment for the DStv service. Customers who have already paid their new subscription for the DStv service will have those services honoured until the current 30-day viewing cycle ends on or before 10 September. From Wednesday, 9 August, no new subscriptions or reconnections will be accepted,” said MultiChoice.