by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's broadcasting regulator says it's not aware of any further legal action from the shuttered and unlicensed pay-TV operator StarSat which went off-air last week following a search and seizure raid by Icasa, while thousands of StarSat subscribers who lost their service demand refunds and say they're not being helped.
After broadcasting unlicensed for more than a year since July 2023, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) did a search and seizure raid at the Midrand headquarters of the Chinese-run On Digital Media (ODM) on Wednesday last week, ripping out and confiscating equipment, servers and cables.
The regulator warned ODM since March this year that it had to stop and shut down its unlicensed pay-TV service by 18 September and to warn subscribers and stakeholders about it.
StarTimes which failed to renew ODM's pay-TV licence for StarSat in South Africa despite multiple warnings from Icasa, lost an urgent court interdict application to have Icasa's shutdown order be set aside.
Earlier this month StarTimes's ODM said that it would be going back to court for a review.
On Wednesday last week StarSat representatives also said that ODM's legal team was in court to contest Icasa's search and seizure raid and to have its equipment returned which also impacts StarTimes' pay-TV operations across the rest of Africa outside of South Africa that saw multiple TV channels go off its platform.
On Monday this week and again asked on Tuesday, Zanele Ntuli, Icasa spokesperson, told TVwithThinus the regulator isn't aware of any further legal action from ODM, StarSat or StarTimes regarding the shutdown order, or last week's raid.
In response to a media query seeking comment from ODM on Icasa saying it isn't aware of legal action over last week's search and seizure operation, the pay-TV operator through its Eclipse Communications crisis communications PR company, told TVwithThinus on Wednesday "the legal action in question involves StarTimes Media, the rightful owner of the equipment wrongfully seized by Icasa, not ODM or StarSat".
"StarTimes Media is currently challenging Icasa in court over the seizure of their equipment, for which
StarTimes Media has a valid licence, and this is the legal process underway."
Asked for clarity on the legal review, the pay-TV operator says "ODM has initiated a legal review in the High Court, Gauteng Division, Pretoria, requesting the court to compel Icasa to review its licence renewal application".
"As of now, the court has not confirmed a date for the hearing. The core of the review is to address whether Icasa's actions regarding the licence termination were justified, particularly given ODM's ongoing renewal efforts."
Furious subscribers
Meanwhile, thousands of StarSat subscribers are furious about being cut off, having paid and not getting a service and battling to get hold of StarSat representatives and to get refunds.
Several angry StarSat subscribers told TVwithThinus that some had made double payments in October thinking that's why their service was suspended, that StarSat's customer call centre number doesn't work, that emails are not answered, wondering why StarSat never warned them in advance not to pay, and that they're now battling to get refunds.
On Monday and Tuesday TVwithThinus called the StarSat customer call centre number multiple times but it no longer rang and no longer went to call options. On Wednesday call options were restored and operators again answered.
ODM told TVwithThinus that its customer call centre "has been experiencing a higher-than-usual volume of calls, which is affecting response times. StarSat is working diligently to address as many customer queries as possible".
"At this point, adding an alternative number would not improve the situation," the company said.
"We encourage customers to consider emailing wecare@starsat.co.za and remain patient as we work to resolve the backlog."
The veteran consumer expert Wendy Knowler said "StarSat subscribers who have paid in advance, through for instance a debit order for the month of October and where there is no way they're getting a pay-TV service for their spend, StarSat's subscribers in South Africa are absolutely entitled to a refund".
"StarSat is definitely not entitled to hold on to that money."
Asked why it failed to warn subscribers that a shutdown was possible, ODM says it "chose not to communicate this potential disruption to subscribers, as we were confident in our appeal and did not wish to cause unnecessary alarm."
"We are currently engaged in legal proceedings with Icasa regarding this matter, and believe the shutdown of our service prior to a court ruling is premature."