Court orders Multichoice to sublicense channels to Metro-digital

The Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has ordered MultiChoice to sub-license some of its channels to Metro-digital, in line with the code of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Delivering his judgement on Wednesday, Justice Olabode Adegbehingbe, dismissed the ruling of the lower court, which dismissed the suit of the Appellant, Metro-digital, despite the appellant proving the existence of the dispute between itself and the first respondent, MultiChoice.

Justice Adegbehingbe also urged the second respondent, NBC, to compel Multi-choice to follow the court order within 21 days.

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

He said the inactions of NBC frustrated the appellant business and infringed on its rights.

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 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 21days 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 sub-license the enumerated channels we requested pursuant to the NBC code.

“The lower court denied that they have no sub-licensing 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.

He said: “The judgment is that the second respondent should have looked into the letter written by the appellant and then call both parties for deliberation.

“Our position has been we got a sub-lease, how can we sublet? Regardless of any code, it’s our fundamental rights. This is like forcing us to give the rights which we do not have. Because this license was sublet to us and you’re telling us to sublet it out again.

“The court is forcing us to give something we got from somewhere else to another person, based on the provision of NBC code.

“Our contention is that code is contrary to the provision of the constitution and it’s not an Act of the National or State Assembly, therefore it is null and void.

“I have not seen anywhere in Nigeria where a Code made by an institution, not the National assembly will now override the provision of rights guaranteed under the provision of the constitution; and the constitution is supreme than any other law.” (The Nation)