South African regulator raids Starsat office, removes broadcasting equipment

The lingering shake-up in the South African pay-TV landscape took a new direction yesterday, as officers from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) raided the headquarters of pay-TV broadcaster, StarSat to remove its broadcasting equipment.

According to a SABC News report, the raid commenced on Wednesday, 2 October 2024, with authorities disconnecting and confiscating StarSat broadcasting equipment. StarSat marketing manager Jan Hendrik Harmse says officials also removed the company’s equipment to broadcast to countries in the rest of Africa rather than just South Africa.

“They started unplugging things. They started just ripping out all the equipment we need to broadcast, not just to South Africa, but to the rest of Africa as well,” he said.

He explained that authorities didn’t bring the right technicians to know what they should have removed. “As we speak, our customers have nothing showing on their screen, and many other countries in Africa are also black on screen”, he added.

He also said that StarSat had applied for an urgent interdict to stop further actions by Icasa. But, even if it were granted, the broadcasting company would still face a significant uphill battle in assessing damage and reconnecting its equipment. “We have no idea what the damage is. We only hope that we can resolve this with the courts because we have approached them,” Harmse said.

This is happening after StarSat refused to cease operations in the country following an order from the regulator. Recall that Icasa warned it would shut down StarSat itself if the broadcaster failed to comply.

The origin of the impasse between StarSat vs Icasa

Reports that Icasa hadn’t renewed StarSat’s licence surfaced in early June 2024. StarSat’s licence expired on 8 July 2023, and it submitted its application in November of the same year.

However, Icasa said the Electronic Communications Act stipulates that broadcasters must submit their renewal application “no earlier than twelve months and no later than six months before the expiry of the licence”. “The authority does not have the legislative or regulatory mandate to consider a renewal application for a licence that has already expired,” it added.

Four months ago, Icasa officially declined to renew the license of On Digital Media, the operator behind StarSat, the South African branch of StarTimes Media. The decision, communicated in a letter to On Digital Media, mandates the company to cease operations by September 18, 2024, leaving the reasons for this decision and the steps required to secure a new license unclear.

Recall also that despite the shutdown order, StarSat CEO Debbie Wu assured that the company will not be closing its operations anytime soon and is actively liaising with Icasa to find a resolution.

“We can assure you and the public that On Digital Media/StarSat will not be closing its operations anytime soon”, Wu said at that. time.

Harmse acknowledged that StarSat submitted its application late but added that it faced several challenges leading up to it and consistently engaged with the regulator.

“We did have a deadline to meet, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we couldn’t get the right investors in, there were shareholder agreements that still needed to be fine, and we kept communicating the issue to them”.

But, Icasa claimed it. had sent a letter in mid-March to Wu and On Digital Media’s general manager for legal, risk, and compliance, Ronald Reddy, indicating it may issue a statement to inform subscribers, content providers, and financial stakeholders about the shutdown.

“Take note that Icasa may publish a notice on its website and/or in the Government Gazette advising affected subscribers, content providers and stakeholders about the winding up of ODM’s broadcasting services“, the regulator said.

Icasa clarified that it does not have the mandate to consider transfer or renewal applications for expired licenses and instructed On Digital Media to share its plan for notifying subscribers, content providers and stakeholders about the service cessation.

If StarSat were to shut down, it would remove a competitor from South Africa’s pay-TV market, where it is known as the second-most affordable option among the major players, including DStv and Openview. It, however, has far fewer subscribers than DStv where it offers a Special, Super and Max package with a lot of Chinese TV channels.