TopTV\u2019s parent company, On Digital Media, recently released its Business Rescue Plan in which it is confirmed that Chinese pay-TV operator StarTimes has made an offer to become a \u201cstrategic shareholder\u201d of TopTV and announced plans to halve prices.<\/p>\n
This will see StarTimes buy 20% of TopTV and commit to inject enough money to \u201ceffect an arrangement or compromise of its financial obligations to creditors\u201d, the plan said.<\/p>\n
Despite StarTimes identifying a number of \u201coperational deficiencies\u201d at TopTV, the Business Rescue Plan remarked that there is tremendous potential to develop the pay TV base in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Of the roughly 11 million households in South Africa with television sets, about 4 million are subscribers to pay television, the plan stated.<\/p>\n
This statistic likely refers to previous Television Audience Measurement Survey data from the South African Advertising Research Foundation.<\/p>\n
According to the document, StarTimes identified the following deficiencies in TopTV\u2019s operations:<\/p>\n
According to the Business Rescue Plan, StarTimes said that it will address all these issues as follows:<\/p>\n
The Business Rescue Plan went on to lay out that StarTimes intends to:<\/p>\n
TopTV in trouble<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n MultiChoice ups SA subscriber base by 492K<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n