by Thinus Ferreira
Despondent and angry former StarSat subscribers have been unable to get the refunds they're due, four months after the collapse of the pay-TV service that abruptly ceased broadcasting in October after its equipment was seized by authorities.
Since July 2023, StarTimes SA and On Digital Media (ODM) kept running the unlicensed StarSat for more than a year after it failed to renew its pay-TV licence and had made changes to the foreign ownership shareholding of the pay-TV operator. ODM refused to reveal its latest shareholding.
StarSat was the only commercial traditional pay-TV operator competing with MultiChoice's DStv in the South African market.
After repeated warnings since March 2024 for StarSat to shut down by September of last year, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) raided StarSat's head office in Midrand in October 2024 and removed equipment which took StarSat off air.
Before this, the Chinese-run StarSat SA and ODM didn't want to tell StarSat subscribers that it was operating without a valid licence, had been ordered to shut down and that it was threatened with a raid - opting to keep subscribers in the dark and continuing to take monthly subscription fees and selling to and signing up new subscribers.
Bewildered subscribers were devastated when they suddenly lost their signals on 2 October, when the South African police and Icasa took servers, cabling and other equipment while StarSat staff huddled in prayer circles.
Jan-Hendrik Harmse, StarSat marketing manager, on that day told SABC News the company would be going to the courts immediately to get its equipment back.
At the time, ODM and StarTimes Media in a statement claimed it would "resolve this issue swiftly and restore services". It also claimed it would continue to keep all stakeholders, including customers, employees and the media, informed as the situation progresses".
In the past four months none of this happened.
Besides the claim in October of going to court for the seized equipment, the company also claimed that it was involved in another separate legal battle with Icasa.
Earlier in 2024 the company went to court to try and get an urgent interdict against Icasa's shutdown order.
The Gauteng High Court dismissed the urgent application.
ODM then claimed that besides going to court for its seized equipment, "A review order is pending to address the substantive legal issues between the two parties once the court date is set".
Icasa said in 2024 it wasn't aware of any further legal action from the company.
ODM appointed Eclipse Communications to do crisis communications following the raid and shutdown of StarSat but Eclipse told TVwithThinus last week in response to a media query it no longer represents the company.
Subscribers who wanted refunds were told to email emailing wecare@starsat.co.za but haven't had any response for months.
Former StarSat subscribers say calls to the StarSat call centre number are also not being answered and their questions across social media are ignored.
Since the shutdown in October the StarSat website and its FAQ page have not been changed or updated to reflect that it's not providing a service anymore.
Last week Tarren-Kelly Hendricks, writing on StarSat's Facebook page, summed up the sentiment of thousands of former StarSat subscribers, writing "StarSat can you please reimburse me now. It's been months without any subscription, I can't afford to lose my money. Please just pay back my money for the month of October".
Shereena MacNabe said "Since your last communication with us on 8 October 2024, four months later and you just went mute on us. As if we don't exist anymore."
Last week after trying and giving up with the call centre number, TVwithThinus called the ODM office number 011 582 9802 with a media query, asking about customers unable to get refunds.
Jan-Hendrik Harmse said "someone" would call back, but nobody did. He was also emailed a media query a week ago.
Jan-Hendrik Harmse was asked why subscribers have not received their entitled refunds after four months, are not being helped to get their money back, why former subscribers are not getting replies to emails, calls, and on questions through social media channels.
The company was also asked what exactly the steps and process are for StarSat subscribers to get back the money they have paid for a service they haven't received and why the StarSat website doesn't mention that the service isn't running.
There was no response from the company.
