MultiChoice Ghana warns against illegal broadcast

MultiChoice Ghana has issued a strong warning against illegal broadcast by some TV and Radio stations in the country.

“It is becoming increasingly common to find some local TV stations going through the back door to air international sporting events without following the right processes to acquire rights for the territories within which they operate,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service consequently conducted raids on Champion TV at Bomso, Kumasi in May this year seizing equipment used in this illegal content broadcast.

Currently, rights to these major sports events; Rio Olympics, Paralympics, Premier League, Europa League, Champions League, Ghana Premier League and La Liga are exclusively held by Supersport Africa and distributed only by Multichoice Ghana through DStv and GOtv platforms.

MultiChoice Ghana is, thus, cautioning media productions to desist from acts of illegal broadcast as they (MultiChoice Ghana) will continue to collaborate with the police, the National Communication Authority where appropriate, to initiate civil suits against defaulters.

Read full release below

Champion TV Raided Again for Broadcast Right Infringement

The broadcast industry in Ghana continues to battle with the issue of illegal broadcast of unauthorised content by many TV and Radio stations. One sector greatly hit by this menace is the sports industry where some local TV stations have been airing international sporting events without going through the process to acquire rights for the territories they operate in.

In May this year, a team from the Criminal Investigation of the Ghana Police Service conducted a raid of the premises of Champion TV at Bomso, Kumasi and seized equipment that was being used to illegally broadcast content without the consent of the rights holders. This raid marks the second time Champion TV has had their equipment impounded for illegal broadcast of sporting content this year.

The rights to these major sports events (Rio Olympics, Paralympics, Premier League, Europa League, Champions League, Ghana Premier League and La Liga) are currently exclusively held by Supersport Africa and distributed by Multichoice Ghana through the DStv and GOtv platforms.

MultiChoice Ghana will continue to collaborate with the police, the National Communication Authority and where appropriate, initiate civil suits to protect its content from illegal broadcasting / re-broadcasting.

It must be noted owners of Champion TV were charged in a case pending at the Court for a similar violation in the past. The broadcast of such content has led to loss of revenue to the audio visual creative industry and the many TV stations who have continuously invested in their people and content, and loss of tax revenue to the government from the illegal activities of these TV stations.