Native name | 四达时代 |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | |
Founded | 1988 |
Founder | Pang Xinxing |
Headquarters | , China |
Area served | Africa |
Products |
|
Number of employees | 5,000 |
Website | startimestv |
StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company in Sub-Saharan Africa.
StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcasters that are switching from analog to digital television. As of July 2020 [update] , StarTimes has distributors in 37 countries, serving 13 million DVB subscribers and 20 million OTT users. [1]
StarTimes Group was founded in 1988 by Chinese engineer Pang Xinxing, [2] who is also the company's current chairman. In 2002, StarTimes began to expand its business to Africa. In 2007, it became the first digital television operator licensed by Rwanda. [2] As of 2020,, StarTimes has established distributors in 37 countries. [1]
In 2009, StarTimes and the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation formed a joint venture to roll out digital migration. [3] In February 2016, StarTimes was awarded a DTH license in Ivory Coast. [4] Operations began in October 2016. [5]
On November 23, 2016, StarTimes was one of the three companies selected by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to establish and operate DTH distribution services in Pakistan for 15 years. [6] On 2 September 2017, the Government of Chad and StarTimes signed an agreement on digital migration. After a lengthy process, StarTimes was chosen to build a Digital Terrestrial Television network that will include digitization of national infrastructures, television broadcast and reception. [7] In 2018, StarTimes began to implement "Access to satellite TV for 10,000 African villages", a China-Africa cooperation project aimed at giving rural areas of Africa access to digital media. [8] [9]
In 2017, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and StarTimes launched TopStar Communication Company Limited, a public signal distributor and Zambia's official digital migration agent, as a joint-venture. [10]
In June 2018, StarTimes launched ON, a video streaming service (OTT) giving access to dozens of channels in Africa. [11]
In 2020, StarTimes e-shopping platform, StarTimes GO was launched. This interactive online shopping platform is supported by TV, Online and Phone call services and available across Africa. [12] [13] [14]
In 2011, StarTimes hosted the first African Digital TV Development Seminar, which has been held for seven consecutive years; it is a talking shop for African countries to discuss digital migration in Africa. [15] The 8th edition of the Seminar held in Beijing in June 2018 had over 400 delegates, dignitaries, heads of broadcasting corporations and guests from 48 African and Asian countries. [16]
In 2015, StarTimes signed an exclusive broadcasting contract with the Bundesliga for five years in all sub-Saharan countries, on its StarTimes Sports channels, becoming Bundesliga's partner in Africa. [17] This resulted in StarTimes and DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga organizing the StarTimes-Bundesliga Legends Tour where Bundesliga players like Lothar Matthäus, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visit African countries every year. In December 2015, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visited Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. [18]
In 2015, StarTimes obtained the rights to televise French Ligue 1 and Italian Serie A in Sub-Saharan countries. [19] In July 2015, it signed a five-year broadcasting contract for the International Champions Cup (ICC). [20] In June 2016, StarTimes also signed a three-year exclusive broadcasting contract with the Chinese Super League for Sub-Saharan Africa. [21]
In November 2016, StarTimes Group signed a media agreement with Ghana Football Association to promote the Ghana Premier League in Sub-Saharan Africa and the infrastructural development of the game in the West African country during the coming decade. [22] In January 2020, one month after losing the franchise, StarTimes won the bid and was named as Television Rights Holder of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup. [23]
In April 2017, StarTimes secured media rights for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the other 2017-2018 FIFA events in all 42 territories of Sub-Saharan Africa (except for the World Cup 2018 and the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 in South Africa). [24] StarTimes also signed a partnership with Ivoirian football club ASEC Mimosas. [25] On 19 July 2017, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights in Sub-Saharan Africa for FIBA's national team competitions from 2017 to 2021, including the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. [26]
On 9 August 2018, StarTimes and Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) announced that StarTimes acquired both the naming and broadcast rights of the Uganda Premier League and FUFA Big League for a 10 years period. [27] In September 2018, StarTimes launched a live telecast of UEFA Europa League. StarTimes will broadcast UEFA Europa League in all Sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It has been awarded exclusive rights for English, Portuguese and local languages in English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking areas until 2021. [28] In November 2018, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana in Sub-Saharan Africa, ending in the 2020/2021 season. [29]
In August 2019, StarTimes announces it acquired UEFA National Team Football broadcasting rights between 2019 and 2022, including UEFA Euro 2020 as well as Qualifiers to Euro 2020, UEFA Nations League 2020/21 and European Qualifiers to 2022 FIFA World Cup. All national friendlies are also part of the contract. [30]
Early August 2020, StarTimes acquired Spanish top league LaLiga Santander broadcasting rights until 2024 across sub-Saharan Africa. [31]
Later the same year, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) unveiled StarTimes as their official broadcasting partners for the FKF Premier League, while the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) signed a tripartite broadcast sponsorship deal with ZNBC and TopStar (StarTimes) resulting in National Division One matches being shown live on TV. [32] [33]
In January 2021, The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) officialized the signing of an agreement by which StarTimes obtains the broadcasting rights for the Total African Nations Championship, Cameroon 2020 (Total CHAN Cameroon 2020). [34]
StarTimes Solar Home System includes a suit of solar panel and battery, 4 LED lights, a digital TV set, a suit of satellite TV access equipment, and two years of pay-TV subscription. [35]
In 2016, StarTimes launched a digital television that supports signal inputs of both terrestrial digital television (DTT) and satellite television (DTH) without a decoder. [36] Africa is going through digital television migration. [37]
StarTimes developed 2-in-1 combo decoders or Dual Mode Decoders that can support both DTT and DTH services which were not common in some decoders. [38]
StarTimes Projector TV can project a greater-than-120 in (300 cm) picture onto a wall using DLP technology and LED light source. External devices like DVD players, decoders, and computers can be connected. [39]
During the Ebola epidemic in 2014, StarTimes launched several operations in Guinea and Nigeria to raise awareness among local population. In Guinea, StarTimes made a video about Ebola virus and precautionary measures, and distributed sanitation materials to the local communities. [40] [41] In Nigeria, StarTimes produced educational materials, distributed gloves and masks, and put Ebola prevention info on its website and Facebook account. [42]
On 12 May 2017, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and StarTimes signed a memorandum of cooperation that made official a cooperation that started a year before "to reduce the impact of HIV across Africa by disseminating messages to the general public to increase awareness of HIV and UNAIDS’ work and reduce stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV and populations affected by HIV". [43] The first act of this cooperation was on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2016, when StarTimes broadcast UNAIDS' HIV prevention videos on its African networks in English and French until the end of the month. [44] [45]
On 14 May 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, StarTimes and SOS Children's Villages International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the organizations partner towards supporting vulnerable families and children, with an emphasis on empowering youth in light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [46]
On 8 October 2018, British newspaper Financial Times reported increase in Zambia's monthly television levy that funds the country's state broadcaster Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), allegedly a result of a joint venture between StarTimes and ZNBC, which established a joint venture named TopStar, of which StarTimes owns 60%, to operate multi-channel television services in the country, and was backed by the Export–Import Bank of China. ZNBC borrowed US$273 million from this bank, but it is rumored it could not repay the debt and it was alleged that the broadcaster increased the monthly levy to clear its debt. [47] The Financial Times has also reported about other practices related to China's debt-trap diplomacy and the Chinese Embassy in the UK have since issued counterclaims. [48]
Multiple outlets have also claimed that StarTimes is promoting news content that favours the Chinese government by placing China Global Television Network channels on the platform's most cheapest package, while other international news channels, such as BBC World News, cost even more. [49] [50] [51] On many of its in-house channels, regardless of genre, the platform airs programming about the Chinese Communist Party and its activities in China, offering prizes to entrants who answer questions about China and its history. [52]
Nigerian research published in 2024 shows the "Access to satellite TV for 10,000 African villages" project that StarTimes initiated does not have the impact it promotes, while most of the equipments in Nigeria went idled due to unable to pay subscription fees after the one-year trial and lack of electricity. [53]
Channels from the Antenna DTT consists of three packages Nova and Basic and Classic
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model of radio during the 1920s, in contrast with the public television model during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, which prevailed worldwide, except in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, until the 1980s.
Digital Satellite Television, abbreviated DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based and with headquarters in Randburg, South Africa. DStv provides audio, radio and television channels and services to subscribers across 50 countries, mostly in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
MultiChoice is a South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa, and GOtv, a minor service operating in over nine countries of this area and Showmax service. MultiChoice was formed out of the subscriber-management branch of the M-Net terrestrial pay television company, and broadcasts the full range of M-Net channels on the DStv service. MultiChoice is owned by the media conglomerate of the same name. One of the subsidiaries of MultiChoice is DStv Stream, formally DStv Now then DStv App, a service that delivers television transmission to mobile devices such as laptops, smart phones and notebooks.
Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA), a globally-broadcasting, nonprofit satellite television network and a division of Al-Shirkatul Islamiyyah, was established in 1994 and launched the world's first Islamic TV channel to broadcast globally. It serves as the official media outlet for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, based in Islamabad, Tilford and funded entirely from donations by the members of the community. The network operates ten 24-hour channels for different regions of the world, including terrestrial TV as well as satellite television.
The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football league in Ghana organized by the Ghana Football Association and formed in 1958 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition which ran from 1933 to 1953–54. As of the first quarter of 2024, the league was ranked as the 8th best league in Africa by TeamForm.com.
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was established by law in 1968 with a triple mandate as a State Broadcaster, Public Service Broadcaster, and a Commercial Broadcaster in Ghana. Headquartered in the capital city, Accra, it is funded by grants, broadcasting television commercials and the levying of a television licence, costing 36 cedis and 60 cedis for one or more TV sets in the same house every year. TV set repairers and sales outlets are to pay an annual sum of between 60 cedis to 240 cedis.
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is converted to and replaced by digital television. Conducted by individual nations on different schedules, this primarily involves the conversion of analogue terrestrial television broadcasting infrastructure to Digital terrestrial television (DTT), a major benefit being extra frequencies on the radio spectrum and lower broadcasting costs, as well as improved viewing qualities for consumers.
Emmanuel TV is a Christian television network with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. It was founded by T.B. Joshua, former senior pastor of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in Lagos, Nigeria. It was also the most subscribed Christian ministry channel on YouTube worldwide with well over 1,000,000 subscribers, as of January 2019.
Investigation Discovery is a pay television channel available in several European nations. It competes in the same genre as Crime & Investigation Network which is also available in several European nations. The ID channel features crime programming, including "missing persons and murder inquiries, cold cases and historical crime," as well as documentaries on forensic investigations. One such program is Deadly Women, an investigative series in which former FBI agent and profiler Candice DeLong looks at female killers throughout history.
Cartoon Network is one of two digital children's television channels that air animated series: Cartoon Network MENA, which serves the Middle East and North Africa division along with Greece and Cyprus; and Cartoon Network Africa, which exclusively serves Sub-Saharan Africa. Both feeds are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery under its International division.
StarSat is a South African direct broadcast satellite television service that began broadcasting on 1 May 2010. StarSat is operated by On Digital Media, who were granted a pay-TV license by ICASA in September 2007. On Digital Media is currently 20% owned by Luxembourgish satellite operator SES and 20% owned by Chinese company StarTimes. StarSat's service is aimed at the LSM 6-9 demographic, targeting middle class viewers.
Satellite television varies in the different regions around the world.
Boing is the brand name used by the International division of Warner Bros. Discovery co-owned by Mediaset for a collection of television networks outside of the United States that target children.
Boing is an African television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International unit, which launched on May 30, 2015. A localization of the eponymous Italian television service, the channel airs programming primarily from sister channels Cartoon Network and Boomerang, as well as those from other producers.
DreamWorks Channel, commonly known as DreamWorks, is a pay television network owned and operated by the NBCUniversal International Networks division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. First launched in Southeast Asia on 1 August 2015, it expanded to the rest of Asia as well as Europe, Africa and Oceania. Its programming is mainly sourced from DreamWorks Animation.
Kwesé Sports was a sport website serving Sub-Saharan Africa operated by Econet Media, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless. Kwesé Sports was launched on 4 December 2015 with the announcement made by Econet Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa, on the social networking site Facebook.
GOtv is a pay television terrestrial service in sub-Saharan Africa owned by broadcaster MultiChoice and launched on 5 September 2011. It mainly consists of African and international programming.
StarTimes Sports is a chain of pay-television sports broadcasting channels operated by StarTimes in sub-Saharan Africa.
TVAfrica was a pan-African television network founded in 1998 by former advertising executive Dave Kelly alongside sports broadcaster Berry Lambert. The network relayed up to 80% of its content to private television stations in sub-Saharan Africa and also licensed the broadcast of sporting events to interested broadcasters. At its apex, the channel broadcast to as many as 26 countries, the majority of them English-speaking and French-speaking states. There were separate versions, in English and French.