The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Monday hit out at the Competition Tribunal for issuing a penalty against pay-television operator MultiChoice for price-fixing that was “nothing close to a slap on the wrist”.

Last week, MultiChoice’s DStv Media Sales agreed to a R180-million consent settlement agreement with the tribunal for its admitted price fixing and fixing of trade conditions activity prior to an investigation in 2011.

The consent agreement comprised a combination of cash and remedies to support broad-based black economic empowerment agencies, and included the payment of a R22-million administrative penalty, the contribution of R8-million a year for the next three years to the Economic Development Fund, and the provision of 25% in bonus airtime for every rand of airtime, capped at R50-million a year, bought by qualifying small agencies for a period of three years.

“The amount is too small to warrant being described as a pinprick,” the SACP said in a statement, adding that the amount represented 0.5% of MultiChoice’s yearly income.

“MultiChoice’s advertising income is nearly R17-billion a year, and accounts for just under half of MultiChoice’s staggering yearly turnover of R35-billion,” it noted, calling the consent agreement a “token punishment”.

The Competition Commission last week explained 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 for payments made within 45 days of the statement date, while nonmembers were offered a 15% discount.

The commission said it had found that the practices restricted competition among the competing companies, as they did not independently determine an element of a price in the form of discount or trading terms.

“DStv Media Sales cooperated with the commission in its investigation and has accepted responsibility for being party to this industry practice. The company has already made the required changes to this industry-wide practice,” MultiChoice said in a statement on Friday.