Swaziland: Swazi TV, SBIS reported to Competition Commission

By WELCOME DLAMINI on December 15,2010

 MBABANE – A case of alleged unfair com-petition against media houses, Swazi TV and SBIS, has been repor-ted to the Competi-tion Commission.

The gist of the complaint centres around the national television and radio stations allegedly charging advertising clients 100 per cent discounts on production costs for advertisements much to the detriment of private media production companies.

In a letter to the Commissioner of the Competition Commission dated December 10, 2010, a director of a private media production company asked that the two government-owned media stations be probed for their practices.

"I write to request the Commissioner of the Competition Commission to institute an investigation into what we perceive to be unfair competition posed by the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services as well as Swazi TV to production houses of advertisements and other materials for broadcasting in the media," the letter states.

The complainant says private media companies are struggling to compete with SBIS and Swazi TV because the latter two "do not charge production costs, but only charge broadcasting fees".

"This makes production houses such as the one I head non- competitive as clients choose the broadcasters ahead of us," the complaint reads. The complainant made an example of a 60 second advertisement where his company charges E500 to create the advert and a further E550 to cover broadcasting costs per slot totalling E1 050.

"SBIS charges a sum of only E550 in respect of broadcasting, and discounts production costs by 100 per cent.

"As a result, we have been forced to charge as little as E250 per advertisement and nothing is charged in respect of intellectual property rights, jingles and other services as these scare clients away," the letter reads.

Worse still, the letter's author says where they are forced by costs to charge as much as E7 000 for a 30 second advertisement, SBIS would charge as little as E275 broadcasting fee.

On the other hand, Swazi TV is said to be charging about E700 broadcasting fee for a 30-second advertisement and a minimal amount for producing the art-work.

"I request the Commissioner to probe these allegations, viz. Swazi TV and SBIS, with immediate effect as I consider it a hindrance to the growth of the industry at the height of an economic crisis that needs stimulation," adds the complainant.

'We will look into complaint'

MBABANE – Thabsile Langa, the Chief Executive Officer of the Complaints Commission, has promised to look into the alleged unfair competition by SBIS and Swazi TV.

Langa said she only got to read the complaint yes-terday morning and they were still to discuss its contents.

"We are going to have a look to see if there is any substance to the complaint and determine if we can investigate it further," Langa said.

She, however, could not put a time frame on when this process would get underway saying they would soon be taking a break and therefore the matter could only be looked into after that period.

SOURCE:

Swazi TV, SBIS reported to Competition Commission http://bit.ly/gGuXX2

(Yimber Gaviria, Colombia)