Ferial Haffajee
The bid to challenge the country’s first private television licence hung by a thread this week. The powerful Free to Air consortium has lost the support of Primedia for its court battle, and the industry is speculating that two other shareholders will withdraw their support.
Rival bidders for the lucrative licence earlier indicated they would question the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) decision to grant a television licence to Midi Television.
Senior members of the Free to Air consortium, Sasani Communications and Dali Tambo, have not confirmed their support of the challenge. Sansani head Nick Frangos would not be drawn on the decision this week, though it is well known the company is negotiating with Midi Television to rent studio space to it. Midi has not yet secured broadcast headquarters.
Free to Air has briefed the best legal brains in the country to proceed with its case. It still has the support of some shareholders, including its foreign partners, and it is trying to cobble together a front of failed bidders.
Although New Channel said this week it would not continue the court case because it could not get majority support from its consortium, some members may join part of the court case which is being spearheaded by Free to Air’s Quentin Green.
Attorney Zunaid Husain, of Edward Nathan and Friedland, is a well-known IBA challenger. He appeared in a court case in the disputed sale of Radio Jacaranda. Husain would not be drawn on the details of his case, but it is thought he will challenge the IBA’s procedures and the content of the Midi bid.
In the course of the hearings, several opponents alleged that Midi submitted information well after the closing date, that it changed its business plan halfway through the hearings and that its foreign partner, Time Warner, was disclosed so late in the process that nobody had time to study the shareholding.
Midi is outwardly calm about the challenge: most of its honchos are tramping the world’s television capitals, buying up programmes.
It has had no word yet from the IBA, and is likely to argue that all it did was submit supplementary information in the course of the hearings, as did most other bidders.