Fox Denies Broadcast Agreement With TStv

AISHA ABUBAKAR

FOX Network Group (FNG), owners of the FOX television channels, has denied that it has any agreement with new pay-television service provider, TStv, to carry its channels in Nigeria.

The position of FNG was made known in a statement issued on Thursday.

The statement, signed by Jeremy Griesel of Jeremy Griesel Communications on behalf of FOX Network Group Africa, said TSTV’s advertisement of FOX channels on its platform is inappropriate.

“Despite advertised claims regarding FOX channels, FOX does not have any agreement with TSTV regarding distribution of channels, but remains confident that TSTV will normalise the situation prior to the launch of its service to ensure the consistency between platform content claims and subscriber expectation,” FOX said.

TSTV had similarly been the subject of two disclaimers issued by Turner Broadcasting System Europe, which distributes American news channel CNN, and beIN, the Qatar-based entertainment and sports content owner.

Both wrote to TSTV to desist from making claims it had agreements with them to redistribute their respective content and threatened legal action if it does not.

They also warned against the use of their logos on any of TSTV’s promotional materials.

The new pay-television provider has been forced to move the commencement of its commercial operations to November 1, a whole month after it promised to roll out.

Sales of its hardware also appear to have been suspended.