BREAKING. StarSat of On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes South Africa lose yet another 2 TV channels as NHK and CNC are abruptly cut.

StarSat subscribers woke up today to discover that yet another two TV channels had abruptly disappeared from the South African satellite pay-TV operator's bouquet run by On Digital Media (ODM) and China's StarTimes South Africa.

Japan's NKH World 24-hour TV news channel is suddenly missing, and the Chinese CNC news channel has also been yanked - the latest TV channels to simply disappear from StarSat with no prior warning to StarSat subscribers or the press.

StarSat subscribers today saw a post-dated on-screen message on the blacked out channels telling subscribers that "CNC and NHK will stop broadcasting at midnight on 31 July to make way for great new channels".

As with previous TV channels discontinued on StarSat, formerly known under the TopTV brand, the satellite pay-TV operator again tries to placate angry subscribers with the generic promise of "great new channels" although StarSat is yet to actually replace several of the TV channels that was cut with new ones.

In November 2013 the Woodmead based satellite pay-TV operator promised subscribers and the press that it would have "over 100 TV channels" by the beginning of 2014 - a hollow promise which has so far gone unfulfilled.

StarSat is currently standing on 78 TV channels - or 76 after the loss of today's two - on its StarSat Super bouquet for R199 per month which is its most expensive package.  

Both NHK World from Japan and CNC from China are big rivals to CCTV News which remains on the StarSat platform.

With the financial bail-out of China'sStarTimes which came to ODM's rescue following the company being placed in business rescue, a litany of CCTV channels like CCTV 9, CCTV 4 and CCTV Mandarin Entertainment were added to the new StarSat bouquet.

NHK World was added in May 2012 when TopTV lost Al Gore's CurrentTV channel which ceased operating. The shortlived CNC was added in November 2013 and has been dumped after nine months on air in South Africa.

No kids channel has so far replaced KidsCo, no channel replaced TLC. The pay-TV operator recently added FOX Movies and the time-shifted FOX Movies +2 and StarSport 2. There's also plans to add FOX Life.

Neither StarSat nor its PR agency Burston-Marsteller has so far responded to a media enquiry as to why NHK World and CNC were suddenly dropped from StarSat's line-up, or why subscribers and the press are not given advance warning of channel terminations.

"If you are going to only have a programming schedule on screen then you should really make sure that it is available on screen. And then to top it all a message this morning to say that NHK had been discontinued. Come on guys, get your act together," wrote irate StarSat subscriber Margie Wilson.

"The Japanese channel was fantastic and gave more than just news. Now we are once again sliding backwards. Very frustrating to say the least".

NHK World TV gets 3 documentaries about the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan.

NHK World TV (TopTV 406) has acquired the broadcasting rights to three documentaries about the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster which Japan's international news channel in English will be showing later this month and in April.

The three documentaries - Fighting Doctor, Being There Through Laughter and Tears and Steel Bond - will be shown on NHK World TV as part of the Broadcaster's Eye timeslot later in March and in April.

Fighting Doctor tells the story of Dr Takahashi, a gynaecologist who defied his own cancer and stayed behind in the town of Minamisoma in the wake of the 2011 nuclear accident to continue his work when many hospitals were closing and his colleagues were evacuating.

Being There Through Laughter and Tears focuses on two friends who fulfilled their dream of opening a care service for the elderly on an island in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Steel Bond goes behind the scenes at a Shimabara blacksmith's shop that has been in the Yoshida family for nine generations and is currently operated by five brothers aged between 72 and 91.

BREAKING. The Africa Movie Channel (AMC) and NHK World TV to be added to TopTV's bouquet as the 2 new replacement TV channels.

TopTV which has seen its normal bouquet offering steadily shrinking since November 2011 when various channels started to cease broadcasting is replacing Hi Nolly with the African Movie Channel (AMC) and Current TV with NHK World TV, a Japanese English language news channel.

NHK World TV which will replace Current TV as channel 406 on TopTV and AMC which will replace Hi Nolly on channel 120 will restore TopTV's number of channels to what it was by November 2011.

NHK World TV will start on channel 406 this weekend after Current TV went off the air this past weekend. [See the updated note below - apparently the channel is starting today.]

The African Movie Channel will start on TopTV before the end of March.

Pay TV operators elsewhere in Africa such as Vuku also replaced Hi Nolly with the Africa Movie Channel in February already.

NHK World TV is one of Japan's 24 hour news channels in English broadcasting from Tokyo in Japan with 31 news bureaux worldwide.

AMC focuses on African movies with a predominant Nollywood flavour, similar to what the defunct Hi Nolly showed.

TopTVdidn't respond to an enquiry made earlier this week regarding AMC and the channels' addition and has not yet issued any press statement about the replacement channels.

UPDATE Friday 16 March 16:26 - I just got a press release from TopTV saying:
''TopTV is pleased to announce that it has signed up two new channels, one of which was launched this afternoon (16 March) and the other which will start broadcasting on its pay TV platform before the end of this month.''

The rest of the information is exactly as I had it above. About the African Movie Channel TopTV says ''while the launch date for AMC on channel 120 on TopTV is still to be confirmed, the pay TV operator is very excited to be bringing this top-class African movie channel to its current and future subscribers.'' TopTV confirms that it will be happening before the end of March.