StarSat (formerly TopTV until 31 October 2013
) is a South African
direct broadcast satellite television service that began broadcasting on 1 May 2010.
StarSat is operated by On Digital Media,
who were granted a pay-TV license by
ICASA
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the publ ...
in September 2007.
On Digital Media is currently 20% owned by Luxembourgish satellite operator
SES and 20% owned by Chinese company
StarTimes
StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company with strong presence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcas ...
.
StarSat's service is aimed at the LSM 6-9 demographic, targeting middle class viewers.
History
On Digital Media (Pty) Ltd launched TopTV on 1 May 2010.
On 30 April 2013, shareholders of On Digital Media voted to approve China-based company
StarTimes
StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company with strong presence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcas ...
taking over a 20% share of ODM. By doing so, StarTimes effectively acquired a 65% economic interest in ODM.
The vote also included adoption of a business rescue plan.
TopTV was officially rebranded as StarSat on 31 October 2013.
The new packages and channels associated with the new brand were made available on 1 December 2013.
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.
Transmissions are in the
DVB-S2
Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the Digital Video Broadcasting Proje ...
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related tec ...
digital TV format with reception using a simple
set-top box and with the Combo3
PVR decoder launched in 2011.
Conax
Conax develops television encryption, conditional access and content security for digital television. Conax provide CAS technology to pay TV operators in 85 countries. The company has offices in Norway (headquarters), Russia, Germany, Brazil, th ...
is used as
conditional access
Conditional access (CA) is a term commonly used in relation to software and to digital television systems. Conditional access is that ‘just-in-time’ evaluation to ensure the person who is seeking access to content is authorized to access the c ...
system.
See also
*
Astra 4A broadcasting satellite
*
Astra 5°E
Astra 5°E is the name for the Astra communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving E ...
orbital position
*
SES satellite operator
*
Astra
Astra may refer to:
People
* Astra (name)
Places
* Astra, Chubut, a village in Argentina
* Astra (Isauria), a town of ancient Isauria, now in Turkey
* Astra, one suggested name for a hypothetical fifth planet that became the asteroid belt
Ent ...
satellite family
*
MX1
Interferon-induced GTP-binding protein Mx1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MX1'' gene.
In mice, the interferon-inducible Mx protein is responsible for a specific antiviral state against influenza virus infection. Furthermore, ...
References
External links
*
On Digital Media websiteStarTimes website
{{DEFAULTSORT:StarSat
Mass media companies established in 2010
2010 establishments in South Africa
Television stations in South Africa
Television in South Africa
Direct broadcast satellite services
Mass media in Johannesburg