by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa is getting a new free-to-air satellite TV service from 1 May when PremiumFree TV plans to launch with a bouquet of at least 18 TV channels that will not just be competition for eMedia Investments' Openview but that viewers will theoretically be able to watch through Openview as well as MultiChoice's DStv decoders.
PremiumFree TV's channels bouquet will carry a range of content from sports and movies to telenovelas, kids content, factual content, drama series, gospel, comedy and reality programming with PremiumFree TV that will be accessible through DStv and Openview decoders, as well as through generic or universal free-to-air set-top box decoders through using a satellite dish.
AfricaXP launched PremiumFree
TV in Nigeria and Ghana in West Africa in late-2018 with 13 TV channels as a freely available satellite TV offering and is bringing its multichannel bouquet to sub-Saharan Africa two and a half years later after acquiring space on Intelsat's IS20 transponder.
"Broadcasting unencrypted not
only means that the service can be offered free of charge, it also means that
the channels can be instantly received on dishes and decoders already owned,
installed and connected," says Craig Kelly, AfricaXP CEO. "It’s all about
instant reach for us and with no extra equipment or cost for the viewer."
People with Openview or DStv won't need a new or additional decoder to watch PremiumFree TV.
"After years of stagnation in
the African TV market, characterised by the regular failure of new pay-TV
initiatives, Intelsat’s decision to seek out AfricaXP as a partner and allocate
one of the few available transponders on IS20 to PremiumFree TV, is a clear vote
of confidence in the PremiumFree TV project," the company says.
"Intelsat has a clear conviction that
multichannel free to air TV delivered over satellite has a big role to play in
the future of the African TV market."
Christelle Meyer, Intelsat senior account director, says "Many countries dealing
with economic disparity or smaller populations struggle with making fibre and
mobile broadband work as a universal media distribution technology. Satellite will
play a vital role in delivering rich media content to all corners of the
continent well into the future".
PremiumFree TV has been transmitting a pilot channel on the IS20 transponder since 7 January 2021 with at least 18 TV channels in a bouquet that will be tested from April and with PremiumFree TV that will officially launch on 1 May.
"It’s exciting to be able to offer a compelling multichannel bouquet to
such a large and underserved market." says Craig Kelly. "Free-to-air TV is critical in stimulating the market by offering value to a
segment that can’t afford to pay regularly for premium content, if at all".
"A strong media industry is
symbiotic for the whole ecosystem. Strong free to air drives penetration of TV
sets, stimulate content development and grows viewing habits which in turn
attracts advertisers. We hope to make
our contribution to stimulating activity to the benefit for all players."
Channels
Here are the 25 TV channels that will be available on PremiumFree TV at launch on 1 May:
1. BongoTV: Tanzanian Swahili movies.
13. RPM: A motoring and motor sports channel.
Decoder
People with Openview or DStv won't need a new or additional decoder to watch PremiumFree TV.
Any generic or "universal" free-to-air Mpeg4 DVB-S
decoder connected to a satellite dish aimed at the IS20 transponder also used by eMedia Holdings' Openview and MultiChoice's DStv will get PremiumFree TV.
What does this mean? It means that almost any decoder that is new and
available for sale now is likely to work – it does not need a smart card slot
or any encryptions system imbedded. The PremiumFree TV bouquet of channels are free and will remain so.
PremiumFree TV will also be viewable on more than one device in a household. An installer could provide an LNB splitter that would make it possible to connect multiple decoders to the same dish. A HDMI splitter can also be used to enable a household to have more than
one feed from the same decoder.
While MultiChoice for DStv and eMedia Investments for Openview only include their own TV channels in their services' electronic guide (EPGs) on their decoders there are ways to manually scan for the PremiumFree TV channels on these decoders and set-top boxes.
Updates sent to
decoders from these service providers may however delete these settings. The PremiumFree TV channels are transmitted unencrypted and other operators are free to include
such services in their EPGs if they choose to do so, says the company.
PremiumFree TV says that people who can't receive the PremiumFree TV channels on their DStv or Openview decoders and want to watch them can buy any low-cost generic or
universal free-to-air decoder, remove the LNB cable from your current DStv or Openview decoder and just attach this to your free-to-air decoder.
Then scan the decoder or use the PremiumFree TV parameters and you will find the channels.
If you have a DStv Explora decoder connected, you will
also need to look at the plastic LNB on the middle of your satellite dish and swap the
cable from the original smart LNB connector to the other universal LNB
connector. PremiumFree TV says that any satellite dish installer can assist with this switch.
The Intelsat IS20 coordinates are FEC: 3/4, with frequency 12682 (MHZ), symbol rate 27500, horizontal polarity, and transponder code EF36K.
