BREAKING. SouthTel silent on VOD:TV; suddenly no longer talking about its promised VOD:TV video-on-demand service.

SouthTel has gone silent, unwilling to talk about its big promises for what the company said would be South Africa's first true video-on-demand (VOD) service.

Several months after SouthTel said it would start its new VOD:TV service with HD content, and wowing TV executives in November last year with the double sided VOD:TV remote control, industry insiders are now starting to wonder: Is SouthTel and VOD:TV another pipedream like WowTV, Super 5 Media, eSat and all the other pay TV businesses over promising and then never starting?

SouthTel promised TV executives an early 2012 launch but with June 2012 fast approaching, SouthTel has made no mention of the intended new launch date for VOD:TV which was tested in 2011 with 70 decoders and which SouthTel said would give South African TV viewers 200 hours of HD viewable content per month (or 400 hours of SD content) on its PVR decoder.

MultiChoice currently offers the DStv on Demand and DStv Box Office VOD service to DStv Premium subscribers. Although good and growing its not a "perfect system" in the sense that its not a true return-path PVR system.

SouthTel said that its revolutionary video-on-demand service would come with a 3G card to enable a true return-path and make true interactive VOD television possible for the first time in Africa. Now SouthTel doesn't want to talk about where the business is at and how and why the roll-out plans for VOD:TV has changed.

Neither SouthTel nor CEO Oscar Dube had any comment on questions and media enquiries made last week about VOD:TV's proposed launch date, when the service will be rolled out commercially and why it has been postponed, or what the latest is that SouthTel can say about VOD:TV.

Asked if SouthTel has anything to share or tell about VOD:TV in general, SouthTel cited "non-disclosure" issues.

BREAKING. SouthTel promises no porn on demand to subscribers when its video-on-demand service VOD:TV launches in 2012.

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SouthTel tells TV with Thinus that the new video-on-demand entrant planning to launch its VOD:TV service early in 2012 in South Africa will not be pumping porn to subscribers.

CEO Oscar Dube tells me that SouthTel has no plans ''to showcase adult content, for example porn''.

TopTV concluded a carriage agreement with Playboy TV for 3 hardcore pornography channels and TopTV has applied to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) for channel authorisation to start this separate new porn package for subscribers from 2012.

SouthTel is ready to launch its VOD service in 2012 with 200 hours of high definition (HD) content and 400 hours of SD content and will join MultiChoice that's currently offering the DStv BoxOffice VOD service within South Africa.

AfricaCast 2011: SouthTel ready to launch Africa's first true return-path, video-on-demand service with VOD:TV; 200 hours of HD content.

SouthTel is ready to launch VOD:TV in South Africa in 2012 and elsewhere in Southern Africa with more than 200 hours of high definition (HD) content per month (400 SD hours) and Africa's first true return-path enabled video-on-demand (VOD) service that includes a double-sided remote control with a full keyboard at the back.

SouthTel has thrown down the gauntlet and says the company is looking for mobile operators across Southern Africa who possibly wants to partner with the company in bringing video-on-demand (VOD) to consumers.

SouthTel has a fully-functional and tested VOD system, with international content deals signed and in place, as well as a secure conditional access system. SouthTel plans to roll out its VOD:TV service in South Africa early in 2012 but says its ready to immediately expands beyond South Africa's borders.

''We will also easily be able to customise the user-interface of VOD:TV from country to country,'' said Oscar Dube, SouthTel CEO and founder. He was speaking at the AfricaCast 2011 TV summit in Cape Town which is part of the 14th AfricaCom conference. He said SouthTel will partner with mobile operators as the PVR decoder for VOD:TV comes with a 3G card to enable a true return-path and make true interactive VOD television possible for the first time in Africa.

''If you look at pay TV in South Africa and the rest of Africa, they don't really have a true return path way to communicate with subscribers. VOD:TV will. You don't buy packages, you consume content as you want to by using airtime while video and audio is pushed to the set top box (STB).''

''I really want to invite mobile operators across Africa to come and talk to us. The product is immediately available. It's not something we're still working on it's something that we can talk about with mobile operators right now. There's no need for broadband, we don't need any mobile operator's infrastructure – we have our own infrastructure, so mobile operators don't have to spend any cash on capital expenditure or operational expenditure,'' Oscar Dube said.

''The VOD:TV service will offer 400 hours of standard definition (SD) content per month, or 200 hours of high definition (HD) content per month. We're looking at doing about 200 hours of HD content. Content will also be specifically customised per country. We're not saying that because you're in Zimbabwe or Botswana you have to watch the content we will be having for South Africa. We, together with mobile operators, will be able to completely customise for your country and your subscriber base's needs.''

''We tested VOD:TV with 70 decoders; we tested with regional specific advertising for provinces. Together with SouthTel, mobile operators will be able to enter the video content market. SouthTel is at the forefront of the mindset shift for Africa that you have to move away from traditional linear television, to more on-demand TV content which is transactional based – viewers watching the content that they want, when they want to.'' He said SouthTel is ''looking for partnerships with broadcasters and telecoms because in every country we're looking for local content.''

The conditional access system SouthTel's VOD:TV decoders will be using is Safe Access which is proprietary to Logiways. I asked Rick Smith, the senior vice president, sales and marketing of Logiways in France about the security system.

''It's certified, approved by the Hollywood studios, it's deployed currently in Europe for Hollywood content, and it will work in exactly the same way with SouthTel's VOD:TV platform here in Africa,'' Rick Smith said. ''We secure the content from end to end from the ingestion right through to the consumer consumption. The conditional access system is specifically designed, unlike linear systems, to protect content whilst it reside on a STB right up until the time it is deleted.''

AfricaCast 2011: SouthTel wows the crowd with its VOD:TV decoder and a double-sided remote control with a full keyboard at the back.

I will break the news that SouthTel's brand-new VOD:TV video-on-demand (VOD) service it plans to launch in 2012 is going to be massive - partly because of all the little secrets starting to leak out ...

Like SouthTel's double sided remote control for VOD:TV that contains a full keyboard at the back.

SouthTel just wowed the crowd when Oscar Dube, CEO and founder of SouthTel, held up the VOD:TV remote control ... and turned it around. The back is a full keyboard. He smiled. ''Exciting opportunities,'' he said.

Oscar Dube talked about VOD.TV and unveiled the decoder and remote control at the AfricaCast 2011 TV summit in Cape Town that is part of the 14th AfricaCom conference. Delegates looked stunned. His presentation drew loud applause.

''For the very first time in Africa and South Africa we're looking at true convergence,'' he said. ''As a user you will no longer just be using your TV to watch TV. You can Facebook, you can do anything you want. You can access anything via your TV.

SouthTel plans to roll out VOD:TV in 2012 in South Africa which will make over 400 hours of standard definition (SD) television and 200 hours of high definition (HD) content per month available to subscribers through already signed international content deals with all the major Hollywood studios.

''We're looking for partnerships with broadcasters and telecoms,'' Oscar Dube said, ''because in every country we're looking for local content''.

FIRST LOOK! VOD.TV to deliver 150 hours of television per month without the need of a cellphone as SouthTel plans launch for early 2012.

SouthTel that's currently in a trial phase with MTN as I told you RIGHT HERE for its video-on-demand (VOD) TV satellite service will be rolling out there service with this HD decoder - and will have 150 hours of television per month on offer when it launches early in the new year.

I can also reveal that SouthTel is now looking at early 2012 for its commercial launch which would initially have been in August 2011. SouthTel decided to postpone after MultiChoice's VOD hiccups with DStv BoxOffice in July.

And besides your first look at the VOD.TV decoder above, here is your first look at the VOD.TV remote control on the right.

Where the current DStv remote control has 5 colour buttons, the VOD.TV decoder will have a remote control with 4 coloured square buttons in red, green, yellow and blue. Similar to DStv Box Office, VOD.TV will cycle some of the content monthly.

Unlike DStv BoxOffice, the VOD.TV decoder will be connected to the internet, so subscribers won't need a cellphone. Subscribers and users will refresh and top up their accounts through the TV interface of the VOD.TV decoder, SouthTel now says on its website.

EXCLUSIVE. SouthTel to launch a trial version of its brand-new VOD.TV video-on-demand service in July - and only I can reveal the logo!

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I can exclusively reveal that newcomer SouthTel plans to launch a trial version of its new video-on-demand (VOD) service called VOD.TV in July before the commercial launch in September that will give consumers in South Africa and Southern Africa instant access to thousands of movie titles, just-released DVDs and TV shows as a perpetually available ''digital video store'' and for cheaper than current pay TV subscriptions. Oh. And TV with Thinus can exclusively reveal the new orange and black VOD.TV logo today, right here.

ALSO READ: Newcomer SouthTel to launch its video-on-demand service VOD:TV in September.

While MultiChoice is busy planning the commercial roll-out of its own VOD service entitled DStv BoxOffice, SouthTel is definitely starting a pilot service in July. I can exclusively reveal that VOD.TV is planning ''thousand titles'' of ''new-release movies, big-screen blockbusters, classics, hit TV season series and personalized theme music playlists, educational shows''. The majority of all the content will be available in high definition (HD) and consumers will choose what they want to watch from the VOD.TV user interface below:

VOD.TV will use a personal digital video recorder (PVR) which will automatically record a selection of programming, transmitted in spare capacity by satellite to the PVR. Subscribers can then watch the downloaded programming at a time they desire. Since the content occupies space on the PVR hard drive, downloaded content will be deleted after a few days to make way for newer programs.

Pushed TV content is ciphered on the disk drive and cannot be viewed until purchased. Once a purchase of a specific show or movie is validated, the VOD.TV decoder receives a secured authorisation within seconds. The content then becomes available for viewing. The content is not transferable and can be viewed only on the buyer's decoder.

BREAKING. MultiChoice now plans to launch DStv BoxOffice in July; two months before SouthTel's VOD:TV video-on-demand service starts.

MultiChoice will launch its commercially extended video-on-demand (VOD) service called DStv BoxOffice in July.

MultiChoice has been testing DStv BoxOffice since last year and wants to use DStv BoxOffice to retain subscribers as well as boost revenue growth.

MultiChoice plans to download some of the latest blockbuster movies to PVR's through the existing satellite network to home decoders instead of using a broadband service in exactly the same way as the new video-on-demand operator SouthTel plans to do when it launches its new VOD service offering called VOD:TV in September.

ALSO READ: SouthTel to launch it's VOD:TV video-on-demand service in September in South Africa.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice grows its DStv subscriber base in Africa to 4,9 million by end of March 2011; margins under pressure due to competition; rights.

DStv BoxOffice will make a rolling, updated selection of movie titles available for immediate watching. Registered DStv BoxOffice users will be able to watch a movie for a window period of 48 hours, as many times over as they want. DStv BoxOffice is similar in design and function to FOXTEL Box Office and Sky Movies Box Office.

BREAKING. SouthTel to launch first true video-on-demand service in South Africa with VOD:TV decoders in September.

SouthTel is planning on bringing TV viewers in South Africa and Southern Africa the first true video-on-demand (VOD) pay TV service from September when SouthTel will launch its VOD:TV decoders and VOD service giving TV viewers the choice to watch thousands of movies and TV series on demand before it appears on pay television.

''TV viewers will have to buy a VOD:TV branded decoder and pay for the installation. And of course the subscriber will have to pay for the specific movie or TV show,'' Oscar Dube, CEO and founder of SouthTel tells TV with Thinus, but promises that SouthTel's video-on-demand service ''will definitely be cheaper than pay TV''.

''We're looking at minimum cost. The specific pricing has not been decided but it will be cheaper than what people are currently paying for subscription television in South Africa.'' SouthTel's VOD:TV will launch through satellite in September in South Africa and 3 other Sadec countries in Southern Africa but the company will move to employ broadband in the future.

SouthTel's VOD:TV service plans to show the latest Hollywood movies and episodes of TV shows before it appears on MultiChoice's DStv, on pay broadcaster M-Net, or On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV. It would also be possible for VOD:TV users to order a whole season of a TV series. ''The process is always first the movie theatre, then VOD, then DVD, then pay TV, then free-to-air. So SouthTel's VOD:TV will make movies available in the window right after the theatrical run, and just before pay TV,'' says Oscar Dube.

Asked what subscribers of VOD:TV will be able to order on demand, he says ''it will be most of the movies you would be able to see as if you've gone to the movie theatre. We've got access to basically whatever you would find in the video store.''

Oscar Dube says SouthTel has been working the past 2 years on launching the VOD:TV service. ''The biggest difficulty was the VOD:TV decoder. ''The various Hollywood studios all have to personally approve a decoder for video-on-demand services before they would allow any content to go through it. They're incredibly concerned about piracy and secirity issues, so they have to make sure decoders and distribution systems are security and piracy proof.''

SouthTel didn't deal with specific Hollywood studios to get movie and TV show rights for its VOD:TV service but is making use of a content management company that specialize in collectively securing access and video-on-demand rights. ''Instead of us [SouthTel] going to each and every one of the studios we're using a contents management company that collectively does that work and compile the content,'' says Oscar Dube. ''Viewers will be able to watch movies or purchase a season of a TV show to watch for a period of time.''

''Video-on-demand is the future,'' says Oscar Dube. ''The VOD:TV decoder will actually also give subscribers access to terrestrial television channels as well as the internet. You will get internet on TV. The VOD:TV decoder will come with a 3G internet dongle. VOD:TV will also make location based, targeted advertising possible. For the first time ever in South Africa targeted advertising will be possible on television. A local florist in a specific area would be able to run a trailer before a movie.''

M-Net - the past 25 years the first chance pay TV subscribers had of seeing movies after their theatrical run - did not immediately respond to media enquiries made this morning.

MultiChoice that's been testing its own VOD on television service with the working title of Box Office which I wrote about in September RIGHT HERE according to sources, very quickly responded to media enquiries this morning.
''MultiChoice welcomes competition in the pay TV market. We believe competition is good for the industry and for viewer choice,'' says MultiChoice. ''In terms of our own VOD services, MultiChoice is planning a number of exciting new initiatives this year. Watch the space!''