For the longest time, little much has really happened in South Africa’s broadcasting sector. But big changes are now looming. Barely a week seems to go by now without significant new developments in broadcasting. In recent weeks alone, there’s been news of plans to launch South Africa’s first comprehensive trial of digital
In this episode of TalkCentral, your hosts Duncan McLeod and Craig Wilson dive into the big technology stories of the past week. In the show this week, we talk about MultiChoice’s new personal video recorder decoder, the DStv Explora. Also on the show: Telkom Mobile and Cell C and why a deal doesn’t look likely; where
The SABC’s Jimi Matthews says all “checks and balances” are in place to ensure its new 24-hour news channel does not become a propaganda tool. The satellite channel launched on Thursday evening, with president Jacob Zuma in attendance for its kick-off. “I am not quite sure
In 2010, when MultiChoice began work on its radically redesigned new personal video recorder (PVR) decoder, the DStv Explora, the premise was that it would be a “connected box” that would offer on-demand services over the Internet. The Naspers-owned pay-television operator had
Democratic Alliance MP Marian Shinn has called on the SABC to provide clarity on the business case for its planned 24-hour news channel. The channel will be carried on DStv, owned by Naspers’s MultiChoice. Shinn says this is necessary given that she claims
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan has previously slapped down plans by the SABC for a 24-hour news channel, saying “this is not the time for vanity projects”, but that has not stopped the public broadcaster steaming ahead to the launch of its satellite project on 1 August
Kagiso Media wants to offer a pay-television platform that includes a high degree of local content to lower- and middle-income households as part of a bouquet that will cost consumers less than R240/month. The company is, however, concerned that delays in the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television will further
South Africa is about to get a significant new offering in broadcast television with the impending launch of OpenView HD, a new service backed by e.tv parent Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI). TechCentral has learnt that OpenView HD will offer between 12 and 20 high-definition and standard-definition
MultiChoice is moving to cement its position in South Africa’s pay-television industry, on Tuesday announcing that its SuperSport subsidiary plans to launch two new sports channels in high definition on the DStv platform. SuperSport 5HD and SuperSport 6HD will be introduced in 23 July, the company said in a statement
DStv Online CEO John Kotsaftis, 41, is the quintessential geek. He tells me as much when I sit down to interview him in one of the boardrooms at DStv Online’s offices in Randburg, Johannesburg. His love of technology started with a friend’s gaming console. “He got an Atari
