StarSat, the pay-television operator owned by On Digital Media (ODM), has vowed to battle communications regulator Icasa’s resolution ordering the platform be shut down.
StarSat has continued buying and selling, regardless of the Icasa instruction that it should stop operations by 18 September as a result of it had not renewed its broadcasting licence.
TechCentral reported final month that StarSat, which was launched in 2008 as TopTV earlier than an possession change, had did not renew its working licence.
Icasa mentioned in a press release on 20 September that ODM did not renew the licence and prompt that in consequence, the corporate would exit the market.
It’s not clear what the shareholding make-up of ODM appears to be like like, and the corporate on Tuesday refused at a press convention to reveal this info, saying it will host one other media occasion at which this may be made public.
The press convention was hosted by Pule Mabe, StarSat’s head of technique and public affairs. Mabe, a controversial former politician, was beforehand a nationwide spokesman for the ANC.
China’s StarTimes Group beforehand purchased a stake in ODM, believed to be 20%. It’s not clear if that stake has modified, though overseas firms are prohibited beneath the Digital Communications Act (ECA) from holding greater than 20% of the voting rights in an area broadcaster. StarTimes is energetic in pay TV in a number of African markets, together with South Africa.
15-year licence
StarSat, as TopTV, tried to offer a compelling various to DStv in South Africa however failed to achieve a lot traction, particularly within the absence of a complete sports activities providing to rival MultiChoice’s SuperSport. It stays a minnow subsequent to market chief MultiChoice Group.
In its 20 September assertion, Icasa mentioned ODM held a person broadcasting service licence for the supply of a industrial subscription tv broadcasting service. This licence was issued on 9 July 2008 for a 15-year interval that expired on 8 July 2023. ODM “did not submit a licence renewal utility throughout the required timeframe set by the ECA and associated laws”, Icasa mentioned.
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“The laws requires a licensee that holds a person broadcasting service licence to submit its renewal utility to the authority no sooner than 12 months and no later than six months previous to the expiry of the licence,” it mentioned.
“Regardless of quite a few reminders, ODM submitted its licence renewal utility after the expiry date on 10 November 2023. The authority doesn’t have the legislative or regulatory mandate to think about a renewal utility for a licence that has already expired.”
Regardless of this, laws provides Icasa the discretion to permit a licensee to proceed to function because it winds up its affairs in order to guard its clients. It mentioned it did this final October after which wrote to ODM and requested additional info, together with how a lot time it wanted to wind up its affairs and requested for its plan to tell subscribers of this.
“No reply to those questions was obtained. Accordingly, on the above-mentioned foundation, on 18 March 2024 the authority determined that ODM ought to wind up its affairs and stop offering broadcasting companies by 18 September 2024, and additional inform its subscribers [of this fact],” Icasa mentioned.
On Tuesday, at its press convention, StarSat reiterated once more that it has no intention of exiting the market, regardless of Icasa’s instruction that it should wind up its affairs.
“In step with the regulatory framework, StarSat TV has been proactively partaking with the regulator to know the operational parameters previous to submitting our licence renewal utility, as stipulated by the ECA,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
“We should emphasise that StarSat TV has not been resistant to the worldwide influence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The disaster pressured us to make varied changes to our operations, together with modifications to our shareholding construction, which now require the approval of Icasa earlier than any license renewal can proceed,” it mentioned. It repeated an allegation that Icasa has “typically” been unresponsive in coping with its requests.
“The results of abruptly ceasing StarSat TV operations could be dire, impacting not solely our shareholders but additionally our staff, together with a community of installers all through the nation, and tons of of hundreds of subscribers who depend on our direct-to-home satellite tv for pc broadcasting companies,” the assertion mentioned.
Inquiry
It added that it has “reached out” to Khusela Sangoni, chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on communications & digital applied sciences, “in search of mediation and a platform for constructive engagement with the regulator”. It has additionally requested for an “inquiry into the subscription tv broadcasting panorama in our nation”, with out elaborating.
At Tuesday’s press convention, Mabe instructed journalists that StarSat is “not working illegally” and needs to save lots of the enterprise so its tons of of staff and contractors aren’t left with out jobs. “We’ll use each professional and authorized means” to make sure StarSat is ready to proceed working, Mabe mentioned. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
