# StarSat

StarSat (formerly TopTV until 31 October 2013) 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.

## History

On Digital Media (Pty) Ltd launched TopTV on 1 May 2010.
On 30 April 2013, shareholders of On Digital Media voted to approve China-based company StarTimes taking over a 20% share of ODM. By doing so, StarTimes effectively acquired a 65% economic interest in ODM. The vote also included adoption of a business rescue plan.
TopTV was officially rebranded as StarSat on 31 October 2013. The new packages and channels associated with the new brand were made available on 1 December 2013.
When Starsat's broadcasting licence expired on 8 July, with Starsat having failed to submit an application to renew its licence, the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) gave StarSat until 18 September 2024 to shut its services down and to advise its customers and suppliers accordingly.
On 2 October 2024, when Starsat ignored this deadline, ICASA and law enforcement officials raided the StarSat premises and confiscated the broadcaster's broadcasting equipment
The matters remains unresolved, with the broadcaster having promised to challenge the action in court, but ICASA spokesperson Zanele Ntuli stating that the regulator was unaware of official filings.

## Broadcast and reception

StarSat services are broadcast via satellite, using the SES-5 satellite at the 5° east orbital position, and 3 of the six 36 MHz transponders in the "Sub Saharan Africa Ku-band" beam providing coverage of the whole sub-Saharan Africa region. Transmissions are in the DVB-S2 MPEG-4 digital TV format with reception using a simple set-top box and with the Combo3 PVR decoder launched in 2011.
Conax is used as conditional access system.

## Channels

Channels from the Satellite DTH consists of seven packages Nova and Smart and Super and Special and French and Chinese some country have Global
ST GUIDE FRENCH - Channel Number: 002
ST GUIDE ENGLISH - Channel Number: 99
ST MOVIES PLUS - Channel Number: 100
ST MOVIES - Channel Number: 101
ST NOLLYWOOD PLUS - Channel Number: 102
ST RISE - Channel Number: 120
ST NOVELA E W - Channel Number: 127
ST NOVELA E - Channel Number: 127
ST NOVELA E PLUS - Channel Number: 128
ST ZONE - Channel Number: 129
ST SINO DRAMA - Channel Number: 130
ST KUNGFU - Channel Number: 155
ST REMBO PLUS - Channel Number: 166
ST NOLLYWOOD - Channel Number: 131
ST SPORTS FOCUS - Channel Number: 240
ST SPORTS ARENA - Channel Number: 241
ST SPORTS LIFE - Channel Number: 243
ST BETA SPORTS - Channel Number: 244
ST WORLD FOOTBALL - Channel Number: 245
ST SPORTS PREMIUM - Channel Number: 246
ST ADEPA - Channel Number: 247
ST KIDS - Channel Number: 300
ST TOONS - Channel Number: 310
ST KIDS PLUS - Channel Number: 311
ST RnB - Channel Number: 321
ST KASI MUSIC - Channel Number: 322
ST NAIJA - Channel Number: 324
ST GOSPEL - Channel Number: 360
ST SWAHILI - Channel Number: 400
ST BONGO - Channel Number: 401
ST SWAHILI PLUS - Channel Number: 402
ST DADIN KOWA - Channel Number: 404
ST YORÙBÁ - Channel Number: 412
ST GANZA - Channel Number: 460
ST REMBO - Channel Number: 484
ST MAKULA - Channel Number: 492
ST MAKULA KIKA - Channel Number: 493
ST AM'MOBI - Channel Number: 527
ST AFRIK - Channel Number: 612
ST NOVELA F PLUS - Channel Number: 615
ST NOLLYWOOD F - Channel Number: 616
ST NOVELA F - Channel Number: 617
ST CHINESE HOMELAND - Channel Number: 800
ST NOVELA P - Channel Number: 881
ST MANIA - Channel Number: 957