Appeal Court Orders MultiChoice To Sublicence Channels

The Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal has directed MultiChoice to sublicence some of its channels to Metro-Digital, in line with the code of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

The presiding judge, Justice Olabode Adegbehingbe, in a judgement delivered yesterday, asked the second respondent, the NBC to ensure that MultiChoice comply with the appellate court order within 21 days.

Adegbehingbe nullified the ruling of the lower court, which dismissed the suit of the appellant, Metro-digital, despite its proving the existence of the dispute between itself and, MultiChoice.

Multichoice was joined in the suit as the first respondent while NBC and the Ministry of Information and Culture were second and third respondents.

The judge asserted that NBC breached its statutory duties for failing to issue directives to the complaints of the dispute by the appellant.

He said, “It is my conclusion that the lower court erred when it struck out the name of the third respondent on the suit.

“The lower court also erred when it dismissed the suit of the appellant when the appellant proved the existence of the dispute between himself and the first respondent which should have been reserved for determination of the second respondent.

“The appeal is highly successful and the judgment of lower court dismissing the entirety of the appellant is hereby set aside. An order of mandatory injunction is here to compel the second respondent to heed the directives of the appellant complaints against the first respondent pursuant to the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (6th edition) as amended.

“The second respondent shall initiate the process for the determination of the dispute between the appellant and the first respondent within 21 days from the date of this judgment under the auspices of the NBC Act, 6th edition of the NBC Code and its addendum.”

Reacting to the judgment, the lawyer to the appellant, Anaetochukwu Nworgu, said the ruling was justice for all citizens of Nigeria.

He said: “It is justice for the whole country. What MultiChoice has been doing in this country cannot happen in other countries. They can’t do it in South Africa. They want to enjoy monopoly even when the federal government has said no. We came to court to compel MultiChoice to sublicense the enumerated channels we requested pursuant to the NBC code.

“The lower court denied that they have no sublicensing rights but the learned justice today gave them 21 days to comply with that order and obey the court and grant the licenses requested by my client.”

But the lawyer of the first respondent, Prof A. Amuda-Kannike, SAN, said they would likely challenge the judgement at the Supreme Court.