With an unending stream of complaints about StarSat in South Africa, On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes South Africa answered media questions about the really appalling service levels, bad signal quality and channels once again being culled without people or the media being told about it.
StarSat subscribers are furious about the removal of the ZING and Zee Tamil channels and told TVwithThinus they're not getting any answers to their questions about it.
StarSat subscribers are irritated that the StarSat electronic programme guide (EPG) for certain channels, like FOX Life from FOX Networks Group Africa isn't working and is out of sync. Again, StarSat subscribers are not getting answers.
StarSat also had an unencoded Open Week in South Africa, similar and at the same time as StarTimes elsewhere in Africa. Shockingly, StarSat couldn't bother to publicise or promote this in South Africa to the press at all. StarSat - in its answer - also doesn't know whether it even had it on its own website.
StarSat subscribers are also angry over ongoing signal losses, signal quality and not getting channels even when they're paid up with nothing that should be wrong with their subscription.
Below is the questions TVwithThinus asked StarSat a week ago, and the answers, unaltered, it took StarSat a week to provide:
1. Has the ZING channel been removed from StarSat, several subscribers can't find it. If it has been removed, why did StarSat end the channel, and why wasn't subscribers told? Will the channel be replaced?
The ZING channel was removed in November 2016 and will be replaced at the beginning of December by a number of new high quality Indian channels. Subscribers were informed of ZING being removed from the StarSat platform via SMS, Bmail and an email.
2. Has the
Zee Tamil channel been removed from StarSat? If it has been removed, why did
StarSat end the channel? Why did StarSat not tell subscribers?
Zee Tamil channel was removed in November 2016 and will be replaced
at the beginning of December by a number of new high quality Indian
channels. Subscribers were informed of Zee being removed via SMS, Bmail
and an email.
3. A large
number of subscribers are angry about signal issues, saying channels freeze, that they can't get signal(s). Why is this happening (yet again) and how is
StarSat fixing this and why does it keep on occurring?
The issue of customers not receiving signal can be due to many reasons and
since we don’t have detail of the error message; our response will address a
number of potential issues.
The first reason could be due to rain fade, for instance during severe thunderstorms the signal is affected.
It could also be due
to problems with the installation, the customer should contact the StarSat
Call Centre so that the problem can be identified and resolved.
3. StarSat
subscribers are angry that the EPG doesn't correspond to what is being shown,
for instance the FOX Life EPG doesn't correspond with the channel. Why is
this?
StarSat had technical challenges on FOX Life EPG which the EPG
provider has now resolved. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused.
4.Was there
an open week weekend for StarSat where people could view the
offering unencoded? If yes, why did StarSat not tell anybody?
Yes, StarSat special package subscribers as well as those subs who had
disconnected were offered 10 free channels to view during Open week from 12 -
20 November 2016.
Subscribers and disconnected subs received an alert to
the Open Week offering via SMS and email. (was there any info on the
website?)