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StarTimes

Nigeria hits DStv over BBC documentary

Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has threatened a Naira 5 million fine (€11,824) against DStv (and other broadcasters including StarTimes, TSTV and Trust TV) for screening a ‘banditry’ documentary made by BBC Africa. Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story was aired in Nigeria in March 2022. The programme (also named as The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara) […]

August 5, 2022By Chris Forrester

Nigeria demands reduced pay-TV fees

Nigeria’s parliamentary senate is pushing the nation’s pay-TV providers to reduce their monthly fees. Letters have gone to DStv, StarTimes and GoTV to cut their rates. A Senatorial 7-person committee has been formed to examine recent tariff hikes by pay-TV service providers in the country. The Senate has also directed all pay-TV service providers to […]

March 31, 2022By Chris Forrester

China invests in East Africa content

China’s StarTimes pay-TV operation is to invest 200 million Kenyan shillings (€1.6m) to boost local production for its viewers. A statement from StarTimes said the new capital injection was inspired by the success of the company’s flagship local content channel, Rembo TV. February 14th saw the premiere of a new drama Nia. Terry Liu, StarTimes’ […]

February 14, 2022By Chris Forrester

Forecast: Africa to add 18m pay-TV subs

Africa will add 18 million pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2027 to take the total to 57 million, according to the Africa Pay TV Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research. Subscriber numbers will climb by 46 per cent over this period, but pay-TV revenues will rise by only 35 per cent – indicating […]

January 10, 2022

StarTimes to invest $1m in Ghanaian football

StarTimes’ Ghanaian operation says it will invest more than $1 million in covering local football matches this winter. StarTimes Ghana was last season’s (2020-2021) football official broadcast rights holder, and extends that relationship with the Ghana Football Assoc. for this winter’s coverage. The broadcaster says that fans can now look forward to even better television […]

October 28, 2021By Chris Forrester

StarTimes reaches 400 Ugandan villages

StarTimes, the China-backed pay-TV system, has completed the second phase of its Uganda satellite TV project and says it has now reaches an extra 400 villages in the country. StarTimes will broadcast educational programming as well as conventional channels. Song Wei, project director at StarTimes, said connecting villages will start this month and end before […]

August 25, 2021By Chris Forrester

StarTimes extends Coppa Italia & Supercoppa rights

African digital TV operator StarTimes has renewed exclusive rights to broadcast Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana for further three seasons in Sub-Saharan Africa. Per the contract with Lega Serie A, StarTimes extends the exclusive rights to the two Italian Cup football competitions in English, French, Portuguese and African indigenous languages to the 2023/2024 season. Coppa […]

August 5, 2021

Gabon pirate satellite broadcaster condemned

In a joint statement, beIN SPORTS, Canal+ International, Gabon Télévision, LaLiga, the Motion Picture Association, Startimes, Thema, TNT Africa and UEFA have condemned the illegal broadcasting by Gabon satellite operator SatCon. They stress that only those broadcasters who obtain broadcasting authorisation from the rights holders may carry the signals and content of these channels. “We […]

July 8, 2021By Colin Mann

StarTimes ON app on VIDAA-powered Hisense smart TVs

StarTimes and VIDAA have announced that streaming application StarTimes ON is now available on VIDAA-powered Hisense smart TVs. StarTimes ON is a mobile application by Africa’s leading digital TV operator StarTimes. It combines live TV channels and rich VoD content to offer a premium user experience. StarTimes ON serves 27 million users and ranks among […]

June 11, 2021

StarTimes ‘still talking’ to beIN despite court order

StarTimes, the Chinese-owned pay-television operator in sub-Saharan Africa, is facing the threat of a winding up order after allegedly failing to pay beIN Media Group for rights to French football’s Ligue 1, according to a GlobalData report. GlobalData also said that the broadcaster, part of Hong Kong-based holding company Century Sun, has delayed payments to […]

March 4, 2021By Chris Forrester