Show promoter awaits Zee TV ad complaint
A LOCAL show promoter who accused Zee TV of refusing to flight a promotional advert on its channel is confident of his case.
Grossman Osman, the managing director of Blu Blood, lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission of South Africa in August after Zee TV allegedly refused to air the advert for the concert of pop/ rock band Sanam because Blu Blood had partnered with direct competitor, Star Plus.
This week the commission will reveal its findings of whether Zee TV abused its dominance. If found guilty, an investigation will follow.
Besides not airing the ad, he accused Zee TV of not broadcasting any ads of upcoming live shows being promoted by his company.
“Blu Blood had a good relationship with Zee TV and I used to previously market our events with it. When we wanted to bring Sanam down for a performance, Star Plus offered us a better deal. We chose them as they offered more value for money.
“When the time came for promotion of the show, we approached Zee TV to flight our ad as it has a strong presence in the industry. We were even prepared to remove any links attributed to Star Plus, but were declined. I wanted to take the matter up because I believe it was wrong to refuse me the right to flight my advert,” he said.
Osman, who will bring Sonu Nigam and Atif Aslam to Durban on December 3, said he had a strong case.
“We are waiting for the commission to make its finding this week and take it from there. It is not about the money, but about principle. Eventually we will claim damages after we quantify our losses,” he said.
Zee TV did not want to comment on the matter.
However, a letter sent to Osman’s attorney Mohamed Seedat by Zee TV’s legal representative Jonathan Hol in August revealed the ad was not flighted because it was “promoting and endorsing a direct competitor” of Zee TV and its terms and conditions stipulated that it was entitled to refuse to flight ads that, in its view, were not in its interest.
In respect of the complaint lodged, it stated there was no anti-competitive conduct that existed by Zee TV and no damages sustained by Osman.