Advanced Television

south africa

Starlink poised for South Africa approval

SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system could soon be legitimately be available to South African residents. Local reports say that the nation, which requires incoming businesses to have a shareholding which includes a 30 per cent ‘black’ ownership (officially Historically Disadvantaged Groups), is close to approving Starlink’s availability. South Africa recently announced that it would introduce new […]

January 28, 2025By Chris Forrester

Dialog TV to broadcast South African cricket in Sri Lanka

Cricket South Africa (CSA), through international media rights partner IMG, has secured a deal with Dialog TV to broadcast the Proteas Men and Proteas Women international matches in Sri Lanka. The agreement will see Dialog TV broadcast all fixtures for both teams across all three formats. This includes the current international home test series for […]

December 4, 2024

UNESCO will be the privileged partner of G20 in 2025

As South Africa prepares to take over the presidency of the G20 in 2025, UNESCO’s role as a privileged partner has been expanded to include the agenda of the finance ministers, in addition, the Organisation will be contributing particular expertise on issues relating to artificial intelligence. “After fruitful cooperation with the G20 in 2024, at […]

December 2, 2024

MultiChoice, eMedia make peace

The long-running war of words and legal disputes between South Africa’s two giant independent broadcasters, MultiChoice Group and eMedia, has seemingly come to an end. All legal actions have been curtailed and the two entities have apparently opted for a private settlement between themselves. A note within eMedia’s half-yearly results (issued on November 25th) says […]

November 28, 2024

MultiChoice CEO exiting

MultiChoice CEO, Marc Jury, has announced he will leave the South African pay-TV operator at the end of March 2025. Jury has been in post for some 18 months and he transferred to the top job from being CEO at MultiChoice-owned SuperSport. He was also responsible for MultiChoice’s Showmax service. In a letter to staff, […]

November 25, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC at risk of collapse

A proposed restructuring of South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC by the country’s Communications & Digital Technology parliamentary committee has been stopped by the nation’s Communications minister Solly Malatsi. The move has led to criticism that the proposal will “sound the death knell” for the broadcaster. SABC is widely understood to be near-bankruptcy. The complaints are […]

November 13, 2024By Chris Forrester

Forecast: Digital transformation to drive South Africa GDP

Digital transformation is expected to play a pivotal role in South Africa’s future, with projections indicating it could contribute nearly 20 per cent to national GDP by 2028, create 300,000 jobs, and expand access to essential services for millions. The latest GSMA South Africa Digital Economy report reveals how mobile and digital services are accelerating economic […]

November 13, 2024

SABC+ adds 500,000 new users

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC has added 500,000 new registered users to its free SABC+ streaming service in three months. The revamped service was launched on July 3rd offers ‘catch-up’ content, VoD and live streaming of SABC’s television and radio channels. SABC said a combination of programming including the Paris summer Olympic Games, the Cote […]

October 23, 2024By Chris Forrester

Minister intervenes in SABC/Sentech row

South Africa’s communications minister Solly Malatsi has intervened in the increasingly bitter row between South African public broadcaster SABC and the nation’s broadcasting transmission company, Sentech. SABC is objecting to the fees Sentech is levying to carry the broadcaster’s signals across the country. In his statement, Malatsi claimed that 3 million South Africans were “at […]

October 10, 2024By Chris Forrester

Icasa “over-reached” in confiscating StarSat kit

The October 2nd raid by South Africa communications regulator Icasa on satellite broadcaster StarSat was deliberately damaging said StarSat officials. Senior technical staff were at the broadcaster’s Johannesburg head office and tried to tell Icasa and the police during the raid which equipment operated their systems. But, says StarSat, this advice was ignored and cables […]

October 7, 2024