TopTV had raised high hopes amongst those who had hoped to see a semblance of competition in the pay television space, but failed to deliver and challenge Multichoice, the undisputed service provider. Now a group of Chinese backed Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) firms are looking forward to reviving the collapsed media company, Transform SA learns.
StarTimes Media, the new Chinese investors, who have now rebranded TopTV StarSat, hope to turn the business around within months and resume operations.
Previously owned by On Digital Media (ODM), TopTV fell into hard times after failing to secure the right number of subscribers who could sustain its business plan. Multichoice, which is owned by Naspers, has been introducing “affordable” packages for the target market which ODM was aiming to gain.
StarTimes is hoping the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) will speed up the transfer of ODM’s operating licence to StarTimes Media.
The BEE companies that are part of StarTimes include Digital Landmark, women led Nathola Investments and Diduscan.