StarTimes Faces Fund Crisis

• Pang Xinxing

•Pang Xinxing

There are indications that StarTimes, the Chinese-owned digital payTV service provider is facing a financial crisis, which now hinders its operations across Africa.

The company, which has eight satellite stations driving its global service, currently operates in more than 10 African countries including Burundi, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

That spread now faces serious challenge as the President of the group, Pang Xinxing, was recently quoted by the Chinese Entrepreneur and China Daily as saying that StarTimes has slowed down its operations on the African continent due to paucity of funds.

He also admitted that in some countries, StarTimes is unable to start building a platform for operations, despite being granted an operating license by authorities in those countries.

•Pang Xinxing
•Pang Xinxing

Since 2011, China Development Bank and the China-Africa Development Fund have been in partnership with StarTimes, both offering the company loans and through direct investment. But Xinxing still believes that “the funding gap is still too large.”

Industry stakeholders are of the opinion that the situation  poses a grave threat to Star Times’ oft-stated dream of providing coverage for 70 per cent of Africa’s population over the next three to five years.

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With StarTimes’ funding issues, there are fears that its subscribers may end up with worthless decoders.

Last May, StarTimes swam into controversial waters, when it acquired majority equity in On Digital Media, which operates at Top TV in South Africa. Top TV, which was licensed to operate three adult channels —Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice, was in choppy waters.

The acquisition by StarTimes provoked widespread disapproval in South Africa, especially from the country’s religious bodies, and sparked fears in Nigeria that StarTimes could introduce porn into the local television diet as a way of boosting its subscriber base.

Meanwhile StarTimes has dispelled insinuations of having any financial issues. In a statement, the company’s spokesman, Rete Anetor, described the insinuation as baseless, untrue and unnecessary.

Anetor noted that StarTimes is on the verge of realising the vision of advanced terrestrial digital television technology that enables every African family to afford digital TV set, to watch digital TV, to enjoy TV as well as share the beauty brought by digital television.

He assured the company’s numerous subscribers that StarTimes is indeed capable of providing for the local people not only digital TV service, and mobile multimedia service, but also digital signal transmission service for national and commercial broadcasting and television institution.

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