Vivid currently has 60 000 subscribers.
Vivid, or Freevision, wants to operate a service similar to Platco Digital's recent announcement of starting the new possible OpenView HD service in October which will carry free TV channels through satellite with viewers who have to pay the once-off cost of buying the satellite dish and decoder and paying for the installation.
Sentech says Freevision, utilising the Intelsat 20 satellite also used by MultiChoice for DStv, will allow the public broadcaster as well as community TV channels to distribute their content to all South Africans.
Sentech says Vivid morphing into Freevision is part of a DTH satellite portion of digital terrestrial television (DTT), making public television available through satellite to South Africans in places where DTT coverage might not be available once the transition from analogue broadcasting to digital television takes place in South Africa.
Sentech says it will shortly announce a new TV channel line-up for Freevision, as well as the retail price of the decoder required to receive the signal.
