The legal application by South Africa’s eMedia Holdings against MultiChoice and arguing for access to TV coverage of the Rugby World Cup was thrown out by the Johannesburg High Court on October 10th. Technically, the legal move was “struck out” and not heard by the court which upset eMedia’s lawyers. The judge in the case […]

South Africa’s pay-TV operator MultiChoice has the rights to show the Rugby World Cup, and rival broadcaster eTV is not happy. eMedia is suing MultiChoice and has taken out advertisements in South African newspapers complaining about what it alleges is a monopoly on sports coverage. The situation is complicated by sub-licensing rights which the nation’s […]

Mweb, a major South African internet service provider and one of the nation’s oldest, is being acquired by Webafrica. The agreement has been signed and is now awaiting approval from the country’s Competition Commissioner. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The purchase, if approved, will double the size of Webafrica, adding more than […]

Zimbabwe’s government will be authorising Starlink to be used in the nation. Zimbabwe’s Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), is reportedly ready to approve an application by SpaceX to launch Starlink services in the Southern African country. The move means that Zimbabwe joins a growing number of African nations to have authorised Starlink – except […]

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband service is active in South Africa despite not having been granted an operating licence. A licence is a considerable challenge for Starlink given that the company does not comply with South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment programme (BBBEE) which is an obligation and designed to enhance the economic participation of Black […]

BBC Studios’ multi-genre channel, BBC UKTV, will expand to DStv’s compact package in South Africa and BBC Lifestyle will join DStv Family from September 1st. BBC Studios’ will also extend the DStv catch-up window on BBC owned content across channel portfolio from 30 days to 60 days from September, providing DStv audiences further access to […]

South Africa based satellite TV provider, MultiChoice, will no longer accept new DStv subscriptions or reconnections in Malawi after it declared it will no longer provide the service in the country. This move comes after MultiChoice Malawi revealed plans to raise DStv rates in the Southeastern African country. However, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) […]

Sentech, South Africa’s state-backed TV transmission business, has started its move towards an all-digital broadcasting model. At midnight on July 31st Sentech switched some frequencies to all-digital transmission. The switchover is about 13 years late. The government’s communications minister had set the end of July as the end-date for analogue transmissions across the country. Broadcasters […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is reportedly “teetering on the edge of financial collapse”. SABC’s CFO Yolande van Biljon has written to the SABC Board of Directors warning that the broadcaster is facing a very real risk of requiring a business rescue such is the shortage of funding. She added that without urgent intervention, the […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is suffering a massive shortfall in funding because of unpaid TV licences. The country is looking at a new funding model for SABC. A question was raised in the South African parliament as to how much is owed to SABC. The country’s communications minister Mondli Gungubele responded saying that there […]