Two international content providers, Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited and belN, have allegedly accused TELCOMM SATELLITE TV (TStv) of infringing their exclusive distribution rights to certain television programmes.
Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited company (Turner) owns exclusive distribution rights for the CNN channel in English.
BeIN is the exclusive licensee of the broadcast rights to many of the world’s major international sporting leagues and other entertainment content in various territories.
These content providers claim TStv is not permitted to copy and rebroadcast content without express authorization.
“The distribution and broadcast of this channel without authorisation will infringe our intellectual property rights and constitute acts of piracy.” – Turner
Turner released a letter on the issue on September 27, it read;
“In this respect, the distribution and broadcast of the above-mentioned channel in Africa including in Nigeria has to be authorised by us in advance.
“The distribution and broadcast of this channel without authorisation will infringe our intellectual property rights and constitute acts of piracy.
“This would amount to an unlawful use, which will infringe the rights and harm the interests of our company, and cause us a substantial prejudice.
“In this context, we invite you to undertake in writing not to distribute CNN, and not to use or reproduce the channels’ trademarks on any advertising or promotional material.
“In the absence of your confirmation should you include CNN within your channel line- up we will take the necessary and appropriate measures and bring civil or criminal judicial actions in order to protect our rights.”
On September 28, beIN sent a letter to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), claiming there was no contractual agreement between itself and TStv that would give the company the license to beam its contents.
TStv responded to the accusations via their facebook page, it claimed the letters were fake and designed to create a bias against their products.
TStv stated;
“We are not unaware of the messages circulating the social media regarding letters from belN Sports and Turner respectively. We wish to inform Nigerians once again that the letters being circulated are fake. They were designed primarily to bias Nigerians. Kindly disregard the said frivolous letters. 
TStv Africa… connecting your world!”