Last year saw Safaricom receive an order from the High Court of Kenya, requiring it to cut off access to over 140 streaming sites. This was thanks to a request filed by South African company Multichoice that wanted a crackdown on these sites that broadcast the channel’s live football matches illegally.

The pay-TV firm that packages popular sports channel Supersports had complained of losing lots of money to these sites, a problem that they believe could be solved with help from Kenyan telcos and ISPs. This was why the firm sued both Safaricom and JTL, two major internet service providers in the country. According to Multichoice, these two ISPs had previously ignored the pay-TV service’s request to take down these sites.

However, a new report from Nation now states that the ruling that seemed to favour Multichoice still does not sit well with Safaricom that went to the Court of Appeal for a new hearing.

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The telco argues that the complainant’s request to blacklist the sites in question would set dangerous circumstances. This includes Safaricom being sued by other media companies. Safaricom also added that the move would spark customer backlash, a situation that they wouldn’t want to be in.

So, it is pretty clear that both parties will be fighting it out again to have a ruling that’s favourable enough for either.

Illegal streaming sites have undoubtedly been booming since last year as sports events resumed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it is inevitable to have viewers who rely on these sites as they cannot afford to pay the high rates that Multichoice offers.