StarSat says SA’s broadcast regulator may have had an ulterior motive after the operations of DStv’s sole rival in the local pay-TV market were shut down this week.
StarSat, with sister company StarTimes Media, are gearing up to file court papers against the authority on Friday.
Officials from the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), accompanied by members of the SA Police Service (SAPS), entered StarSat’s offices in Midrand and “disconnected services” at the satellite company on Wednesday.
Business Day understands that shutting down StarSat, with 500,000 customers in SA, may cost investors $25m (R433m).
StarSat’s head of public affairs and strategy Pule Mabe initially denied that Icasa had an agenda when asked about it during a media briefing on Tuesday.
However, the raid by the regulator appears to have changed the company’s tone.
“We are not saying there is an agenda. The actions of Icasa suggest an agenda,” Mabe said on Thursday, in a separate briefing.
According to the company, Icasa displayed heavy-handedness in dealing with its case.
“The officials fell short of intimidating our staff members who were understandably upset over the commotion that was taking place at our premises when management was still in the process of resolving the impasse relating to the licence renewal dispute.
“We find it unacceptable that the Icasa team acted with uncalled-for aggression during the dramatic confiscation of our equipment. The officials who did not have proper tools may have caused permanent damage due to their refusal to accept our technical team’s guidance.”
In March, Icasa ruled that OnDigital Media (ODM), owner of StarSat, “should wind up its affairs and cease providing broadcasting services” by September 18.
Its licence, valid for 15 years, was issued in July 2008 and expired in July 2023. The company, which launched its service to compete with MultiChoice’s DStv, admits it submitted its licence renewal application to the regulator on November 10 2023, well after the deadline.
Icasa had not responded to questions from Business Day by the time of publication.
“Let’s say there’s no agenda. If someone comes from City Power to switch off electricity, why are they then switching off water,” said Mabe.
StarSat said the raid also affected the operations of StarTimes Media, a separate unit with its own active licence, resulting in the cutting off of a number of services to 23-million customers across Africa.
“Not only were ODM’s services affected [by the shutdown] but also those of StarTimes Media’s pan-African broadcast. As the service provider to ODM and a subsidiary of the larger StarTimes Group, StarTimes Media holds a valid individual electronics communication network service licence for transmissions across Africa,” the company said.
Inspectors from Icasa, Mabe said, were only meant to have taken equipment that stopped StarSat from broadcasting as per the licence dispute, nothing else.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.