The company behind TopTV, SA’s new pay-TV service, is struggling to cope with demand from consumers but hopes to be on top the problems soon.

On Digital Media, which launched TopTV on 1 May, has sold more than 50 000 decoders through retail channels and has imported more to cope with demand, according to the company’s chief marketing officer, Elouise Kelly (pictured).

ODM has almost trebled the size of its call centre, from 40 support staff on 1 May to more than 100 now, in an effort to deal with a backlog of installations and activations.

The average waiting time in the call centre has been reduced to about seven minutes, with between eight and 15 minutes to complete a call. The call centre is fielding more than 6 000 calls a day on weekdays and Saturdays.

The company has also trained up more third-party installers and now has 700 installers in the field, with an average of three installation teams each.

Kelly won’t say how large the backlog of installations and activations is — she says she doesn’t want her rivals (read: MultiChoice) to know how many subscribers are already active on TopTV. But she confirms that 72 000 decoders have been sent into retail stores and “stock is running very low” and “will probably run out by the end of the week”.

ODM has imported more decoders from China, though distribution to retail stores has been delayed due to the ongoing strike by Transnet workers — the decoders are held up in the Durban port.

The company has also now signed an agreement with Altech subsidiary UEC to manufacture more decoders once the latest Chinese shipment is sold out.

Kelly says ODM is “way ahead” of its predictions for sales at this point. However, the pay-TV operator is still a long way off reaching the 380 000 subscribers it says it needs to break even. It hopes to reach this target within 36 months of launch.

ODM is beginning to get a picture of who is subscribing to the TopTV service. Most are either current MultiChoice DStv subscribers, or have subscribed to DStv in the past.

Though TopTV is aimed at people in the LSM5-8 living standards bands, Kelly says ODM is also signing up customers in the wealthier LSM9-10 bands and many are electing to subscribe to both DStv and TopTV, despite the additional cost.

Of those switching to TopTV and who were previously on DStv, about half subscribed to DStv’s Premium bouquet and the other half to DStv Compact, Kelly estimates.

Also, more than 90% of new TopTV subscribers are opting for the top-end bouquet of 55 channels, which costs R249/month. Comparatively few have signed up for the entry level bouquet of 24 channels, which costs R99/month.

Turning to MultiChoice’s reaction to TopTV’s launch — the DStv operator has introduced a new channel bouquet called DStv Lite and cut the price of decoders and installation — Kelly says it’s “not unexpected”.

“We’d have been worried if they hadn’t done anything,” she says. “But from our point of view, we feel there’s enough room in the market for all of us.”

She says installers have told ODM that few people are taking up DStv Lite. “It’s not the craze that has surrounded TopTV,” she says.

It’s in sport, though, where analysts say ODM is weakest. MultiChoice has signed up exclusive sports rights for major tournaments, including the Super 14 and the Currie Cup in rugby. It also has exclusive rights to Premier Soccer League matches, after winning the rights from the SABC.

Kelly says local sports content is not an immediate priority for TopTV. However, she says ODM will bid for sports rights when they come up for renewal. She says TopTV is particularly interested in soccer rights.

In the UK, regulator Ofcom has forced dominant pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB to allow other broadcasters access to football matches. But Kelly says ODM has no plans — at least for now — to lobby local regulators to do the same.

“We’d probably have to have a serious discussion with the Competition Commission, but at this point it’s not where we want to play right now,” she says. “We want to concentrate on getting this business up and running. Once we are in a stronger position, then we can go and pick fights if that’s what we want to do.” — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral