Media groups to pay penalties

INDEPENDENT Media says it has agreed to pay an administrative penalty imposed by the Competition Commission after it found that under previous ownership, the company participated in price-fixing and fixing of trading conditions with a number of media companies.

The Competition Commission said Independent Media and Caxton & CTP Publishers and Printers have concluded consent agreements and agreed to pay fines after they admitted to having contravened the Competition Act.

Caxton agreed to a penalty of R5 806 890.14 and to pay R2 090 480.45 to the Economic Development Fund over three years. Caxton will also provide 25% in bonus advertising space for every rand of advertising space bought by qualifying small agencies for three years, capped at R15 million a year.

Independent Media agreed to pay an administrative penalty amounting to R2 220 603 and contribute R799 417 to the fund over a three-year period.

The fund seeks to develop blackowned small media or advertising agencies requiring assistance with start-up capital, and will assist black students with bursaries to study media or advertising.

The fund will be managed by the Media Development and Diversity Agency and be audited annually.

Independent Media will also provide 25% bonus advertising space for every rand of advertising space bought by qualifying small agencies which are majority owned by black people. The company will obtain its own credit insurance so that these small agencies will not be required to commit any guarantees when booking advertising space.

The matter dates back to a November 2011 investigation which found that, through the Media Credit Co-ordinators (MCC), various media companies agreed to offer similar discounts and payment terms to advertising agencies that place advertisements with MCC members.

MCC-accredited agencies were offered a 16.5% discount, while non-members were offered 15%.

In 2011, Independent Media was still under the ownership of the Irish-based Independent News and Media. – African News Agency (ANA),

THE FUND SEEKS TO DEVELOP BLACK-OWNED SMALL MEDIA OR AD AGENCIES