DSTV MEDIA SALES ADMITS TO PRICE FIXING AND AGREES TO A SETTLEMENT

DStv Media Sales (Pty) Ltd has admitted to price fixing and the fixing of trading conditions in contravention of South Africa’s Competition Act. The admission forms part of a consent agreement concluded between the company and the Commission.

In terms of the consent agreement filed with the Competition Tribunal today, 25 May 2017, DStv Media Sales has agreed to an accumulative remedy of R180m. They agreed to pay an administrative penalty amounting to R22 262 599 (twenty two million, two hundred and sixty two thousand, five hundred and ninety nine rand).

The company will also pay R8 000 000 (eight million rand) to the Economic Development Fund over three years, to enable the development of black owned small media or advertising agencies requiring assistance with start-up capital and to assist black students requiring bursaries to study media or advertising, among others. This will be managed by the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) and audited annually.

DStv Media Sales has further agreed to provide 25% in bonus airtime for every Rand of airtime bought by qualifying small agencies. This aims to help smaller agencies participate in the market. The bonus airtime will be provided for a period of three years and is subject to a total annual airtime cap of R50 000 000 (fifty million rand).

The matter relates to a November 2011 investigation which found 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 non-members were offered 15%.

The Commission 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. This amounts to price fixing and the fixing of trading conditions in contravention of the Competition Act.

The Commission has filed the consent agreement with the Competition Tribunal for confirmation as an order by the Tribunal.

Evidence of a parallel universe? 'Cold Spot' in space suggests there are alternate worlds with their own versions of reality

• Multiverse theory suggests there are infinite universes in the cosmos
• These infinite universes contain an infinite number of possible realities 
• A new study looked at a 'Cold Spot' in space that has baffled scientists for years
• The authors suggest it could be caused by our universe colliding with another
• If true, this would prove that our reality is one of many in the cosmos

In the desolate darkness of space it is difficult to imagine we are anything but alone in the cosmos.

But imagine for a moment that we are not alone, but in fact one of an infinite number of parallel universes that contain infinite versions of ourselves.

In one universe you might be president of the United States, while in another you could be made of gelatin.

This is the theory of the 'multiverse', and a new study has found that a mysterious 'Cold Spot' in space could prove our universe is merely one of an everlasting string of realities.

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A map of cosmic microwave background (CMB) sky produced by the Planck satellite. Red represents slightly warmer regions, and blue slightly cooler regions. The Cold Spot is shown in the inset and could help to prove the multiverse theory

For years, scientists have been stumped by the Cold Spot, which measures around 1.8 billion light years across.

Measurements of the universe's background radiation found this spot is colder than its surroundings by around 0.00015 degrees Celsius (0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit).

Researchers had previously suggested that the spot was cooler simply because it contained as many as 10,000 galaxies less than other, comparable regions of space.

But a new study has shown that this 'massive super-void' could not possibly exist, meaning the Cold Spot cannot be explained by any 'missing' matter.

This opens the origin of the Cold Spot to more peculiar explanations, with one being that it is proof of the 'multiverse'.

'We can't entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard model [of particle physics],' said study coauthor Professor Tom Shanks, an astrologist at Durham University.

'But if that isn't the answer, then there are more exotic explanations. Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our universe and another bubble universe.

'If further, more detailed, analysis … proves this to be the case then the Cold Spot might be taken as the first evidence for the multiverse.'

If true, the Cold Spot could reveal that our cosmos contains an infinite number of parallel universes containing an infinite number of realities.

Measurements of the universe's background radiation found this spot is Colder than its surroundings by around 0.00015 degrees Celsius (0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit). Experts suggest the spot could be caused by our universe colliding with another

'These uncountable realms sit side by side in higher dimensions that our senses are incapable of perceiving directly,' astronomy expert Dr Stuart Clarke wrote in the Guardian.

'Each alternate universe carries its own different version of reality.'

'There will be one where you wrote this column and I read it... even a really weird one in which Donald Trump uses twitter to spread nothing but amusing cat videos.'

The Cold Spot was produced when the universe formed more than 13 billion years ago.

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The Cold Spot was produced when the universe formed more than 13 billion years ago. It was first spotted by Nasa's WMAP satellite in 2004, a sighting that was later confirmed by the ESA's Planck mission in 2013

It was first spotted by Nasa's WMAP satellite in 2004, a sighting that was later confirmed by the ESA's Planck mission in 2013. 

Rather than the Cold Spot existing as a single, massive supervoid, the new study suggests galaxies in the spot cluster around smaller voids that spread over the region like bubbles.

But these clusters of galaxies cannot explain the Cold Spot's lower temperature.

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In the desolate darkness of space it is difficult to imagine we are anything but alone in the cosmos. But imagine that we are not alone, but in fact one of an infinite number of parallel universes, containing an infinite number of versions of ourselves (artist's impression)

In order to prove that the clusters are responsible for the anomalous Cold Spot, the researchers say a non-standard cosmological model is needed.

'But our data place powerful constraints on any attempt to do that,' said study lead author Ruari Mackenzie.

The study's simulations show there is only a two per cent chance that the Cold Spot formed randomly, meaning - multiverse or not - there is plenty more research to be done on the mysterious region.