Govt can’t rescue CAMNET – Kawana

By Chinoyi Chipulu 

Ministry of Information and Media permanent secretary Thabo Kawana says government cannot rescue CAMNET TV from being removed by Multichoice Zambia from DSTV and GOTV platforms as the issues involved are contractually related. 

During a press briefing yesterday, Kawana advised  CAMNET TV to just negotiate a revised contract or explore the option of using other service providers.

Last month, during the funeral of her late husband Pastor Moses Chiluba, Pastor Victoria Chiluba requested President Hakainde Hichilema to protect CAMNET TV station from people threatening to remove it from DSTV, as the owners of the TV station risked their lives by covering the President’s 45 campaign programmes unedited in 2021, and that it was time for him to reciprocate.

President Hichilema responded, through MMD leader Nevers Mumba, at Pastor Chiluba’s funeral Church service that although he was not familiar with the matter, he had heard the request and would intervene.

The position was further re-affirmed by Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, who spoke on behalf of the government at the funeral, saying he would look into the matter and requested Pastor Victoria to avail him with the letter they had received, threatening them with revocation of the TV channel.

But Kawana said they had taken up the matter after President Hichilema requested the ministry to look into the matter but found no law upon which to advise the President  to halt the termination of CAMNET TV channel from DSTV and GOTV platforms.

He said the ministry carried out preliminary inquiries, which revealed that the contention was a contractual matter between the TV station and MultiChoice Zambia Limited. 

He said the matter was reported to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) for investigations, and it was discovered that the reasons to discontinue carriage of CAMNET TV was purely contractual with no evidence to support any anti-competitive trading practices by Multi-Choice. 

“After a thorough investigation, which included meetings with CAMNET TV and MultiChoice  representatives,  CCPC has confirmed that the decision by MultiChoice  to discontinue carriage of CAMNET TV on their platforms is purely contractual and that there was no evidence to support any anti-competitive trading practices by MultiChoice  in the pay television market,” he said.

Kawana said according to the findings by the CCPC, CAMNET TV consistently failed to meet the agreed-upon performance standards outlined in the Channel Distribution Agreement (CDA), specifically regarding feed availability and on-air hours, which led to concerns by MultiChoice Africa Holdings about equipment damage and a decline in service quality.

“The Ministry notes from the CCPC Report that MultiChoice Africa Holdings repeatedly communicated these performance concerns to CAMNET TV station but the issues remained unresolved for years,” said Kawana. “In view of the foregoing, the Ministry has found no legal comfort to advise the President to halt the termination of CAMNET TV channel from DSTV and GOTV platforms. In the alternative, we advise CAMNET TV to either negotiate a revised contract or explore the option of using other service providers such as TopStar and Muvi TV.”

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