africa2_africa 30/10/2013 09:34 Page 4
StarTimes plans Africa DTH growth
tarTimes Communication Network
Technology, the Chinese system
integrator, technology provider and
network operator, has signed a 10-year
contract on SES-5 at 5 degrees East to
expand its media footprint in Africa and
deliver direct-to-home
(DTH) broadcast services across the continent.
StarTimes, which is
the fastest-growing
digital TV operator
Africa and has over 2.6
million digital terrestrial television (DTT)
subscribers, also acquired SES’s 20%
shareholding in South African pay-TV
operator Top TV.
The contract will see StarTimes use
four transponders from October 2013
and a fifth transponder from February
2014 to grow their DTH subscribers in
Africa. The Chinese broadcaster will continue to broadcast TopTV on SES-5 by
using three of the newly-contracted SES
transponders that were formerly leased
by ODM (owner of Top TV). The other two
out of the five SES transponders contracted by StarTimes will be used to complement their DTT offering in remote and
non-urban areas and grow their pay-TV
business.
S
TopTV relaunch in
trouble?
South Africa’s TopTV is
seemingly in trouble
again. Its owners, On
Digital Media, filed for
bankruptcy protection
(‘business rescue’) almost
exactly a year ago in
November 2012, and over
the past months had been
in the process of being
rescued by China-backed
StarTimes Media Group.
It emerged midOctober that On Digital
Media’s exit from business
rescue had stumbled. On
Digital Media said the
launch “has been slightly
delayed due to regulatory
processes”. But it hopes to
still re-launch before the
end of 2013. On Digital
“The recent success of StarTimes’s
strategic investment in ODM will allow us
to reach new audiences in South Africa.
The partnership with SES enables
StarTimes to have a DTH platform in
addition to the existing DTT and mobile
TV (CMMB) platforms in
sub-Saharan Africa. In
addition, the high-powered SES-5 at the prime
orbital location of 5
degrees East is ideal in
overcoming the
challenges of terrestrial
coverage to reach large
audiences. This will allow
us to extend our broadcast reach across
the continent and ensure excellent service and picture quality for our viewers,”
said StarTimes Group chairman and
president Pang Xinxing.
“We are honoured that StarTimes has
chosen to work with us to complement
their DTT business across Africa and to
deliver more exciting content to Africa’s
dynamic markets,” said Ferdinand
Kayser, chief commercial officer of SES.
“The new partnership with StarTimes will
illustrate how the combination of DTH
and DTT is a key enabler in Africa’s
migration to digital TV and also help set
the pace in the continent’s digital
migration race.”
Media’s shareholders had
supported the sale of
TopTV to StarTimes.
South Africa’s media
regulator ICASA
spokesman Paseka Maleka
said the regulator
“received an application in
September for transfer of
individual electronic
communications network
service (I-ECNS) licence
from On Digital Media to
StarTimes Media” and it
was still under consideration.
Management
changes for
MultiChoice
MultiChoice is reorganising its senior management
at its South Africa pay-TV
business, following the
resignation of MultiChoice
South Africa CEO, Collins
Khumalo.
“Collins has played various roles within the
PayTV environment and
has been a stalwart in
assisting the company to
build the pay-TV business
across the continent. The
company would like to
thank Collins for his sterling service to the group
and wish him well in the
future,” MultiChoice said
in a statement.
MultiChoice, a subsidiary of Naspers, said
that in view of the evolution of the business,
MultiChoice South Africa
will now report directly to
Imtiaz Patel, Group CEO,
MultiChoice.
MultiChoice opposes
state STB scheme
MultiChoice chief executive Imtiaz
Patel has called into question
government plans to install
conditional access control into the
set-top boxes, which it will supply
to about five million South African
homes, suggesting that it would set
back the country many years
technologically.
The government is looking to
appoint set-top box manufacturers
for its digital terrestrial television
migration project, with a planned
move to digital signal broadcasting
from analogue from 2015.
The state plans to subsidise up
to 70% of the cost of a set-top box
in homes that qualify for its subsidy
programme. The launch of the
project has been held up by an
ongoing impasse between free-toair broadcasters SABC and e.tv and
the government over the move to
include conditional access control in
the set-top boxes.
Patel contends that the set-up
costs of including CA would require
maintenance teams including call
centres, which were costly. DStv
parent MultiChoice spends about R1
billion annually to subsidise set-top
boxes to its paying subscribers.
Patel’s issue is that technology is
moving towards integrated
television sets. “It’s complete
nonsense. In some ways it’s a bit of
an arms deal situation where there
are people who want to make
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