SECTOR 2

Scores:
Individual scores:
1

Country does not meet indicator

2

Country meets only a few aspects of indicator

3

Country meets some aspects of indicator

4

Country meets most aspects of indicator

5

Country meets all aspects of the indicator

Average score:

3.5 (2012 = n/a; 2010 = n/a; 2008 = n/a;
2006 = n/a)

2.5 Adequate competition legislation/regulation seeks
to prevent media concentration and monopolies.
There is no overarching competition legislation, and a Bill called the Competition
Law (2008), which would’ve addressed competition matters, has not been
enacted.
However, Part 6 of the Communications’ Act directly addresses competition
management, and empowers the Lesotho Communications Authority to regulate
competition in the broadcast sector. Amongst other things, this section of the
Act addresses the classification of dominant licensees, sets in place competitive
safeguards, outlines what would be the abuse of a dominant position by a player
in the media industry, prohibits licensees from entering into agreements that
would restrict competition ‘in any communications market’, and prohibits unfair
trade practices.
There are no restrictions with regards to cross ownership of different media,
and this type of ownership exists in Lesotho. For example, Harvest FM and Faith
magazine have the same owner; and BAM Media owns the Informative newspaper
and Achiever and Finite magazines. Public Eye and Mosotho newspapers are also
under the same ownership.

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AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Lesotho 2015

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