Reprieve for Safaricom as Court Quashes Dstv Content Pirating Case

Safaricom internet subscribers will continue accessing premium sports content after the Court of Appeal quashed a case that was filed by Dstv that had linked them to content piracy. 

The cable TV provider argued that the giant telecommunication firm had enabled illegal access to premium sports content that was to be viewed exclusively on its Super sports channel. Multichoice had sued Safaricom and Jamii Telecom for streaming games that only incurred data costs.

Subscribers to Multichoice-owned Gotv and Dstv pay a monthly fee to enable access to its premium content. Last November, High Court agreed with Multichoice and directed both Safaricom and Jamii telecom to disable access to the sites.

Safaricom appealed the case, arguing that it would have cost the company irreparable damage. The mobile service provider convinced the court beyond shadow of reasonable doubt that the issues raised was grievous and had to be considered first before the directives to ban the sites were dispensed.

While delivering the verdict appeal court Judges Hannah Okwengu, Jamila Mohammed and Fatuma Sichale stated: “The upshot of the above is that Safaricom has satisfied the conditions for granting an order of stay of execution under Rule 5(2)(b) of the Court Rules, and deem it appropriate that we grant an order of stay of the execution of the order of the High Court.”