StarSat (formerly TopTV until 31 October 2013[1]) is a South African direct broadcast satellite television service that began broadcasting on 1 May 2010.[2] StarSat is operated by On Digital Media,[3] who were granted a pay-TV license by ICASA in September 2007.[4] On Digital Media is currently 20% owned by Luxembourgish satellite operator SES and 20% owned by Chinese company StarTimes.[5] StarSat's service is aimed at the LSM 6-9 demographic, targeting middle class viewers.
History
Previous logo as TopTV
On Digital Media (Pty) Ltd launched TopTV on 1 May 2010.[2]
On 30 April 2013, shareholders of On Digital Media voted to approve China-based company StarTimes taking over a 20% share of ODM. By doing so, StarTimes effectively acquired a 65% economic interest in ODM.[5] The vote also included adoption of a business rescue plan.[1]
TopTV was officially rebranded as StarSat on 31 October 2013.[1] The new packages and channels associated with the new brand were made available on 1 December 2013.[1][6]
When Starsat's broadcasting licence expired on 8 July, with Starsat having failed to submit an application to renew its licence, the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) gave StarSat until 18 September 2024 to shut its services down and to advise its customers and suppliers accordingly [7].
On 2 October 2024, when Starsat ignored this deadline, ICASA and law enforcement officials raided the StarSat premises and confiscated the broadcaster's broadcasting equipment [8]
The matters remains unresolved, with the broadcaster having promised to challenge the action in court, but ICASA spokesperson Zanele Ntuli stating that the regulator was unaware of official filings.[9]
Broadcast and reception
StarSat services are broadcast via satellite, using the SES-5 satellite at the 5° east orbital position, and 3 of the six 36 MHz transponders in the "Sub Saharan Africa Ku-band" beam providing coverage of the whole sub-Saharan Africa region.[10] Transmissions are in the DVB-S2MPEG-4 digital TV format with reception using a simple set-top box and with the Combo3 PVR decoder launched in 2011.
