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StarSat pulls plug on porn channels

Bonnie Tubbs
By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 27 Mar 2015
StarSat has stopped broadcasting pornography, saying this is out of respect for SA's courts, and will await legal advice on a way forward.
StarSat has stopped broadcasting pornography, saying this is out of respect for SA's courts, and will await legal advice on a way forward.

StarSat - the operator behind SA's first subscription pornography offering via satellite TV - has terminated the broadcast of the adult channels that have been available since November 2013.

This comes after the Supreme Court of Appeal this week dismissed StarSat parent On Digital Media's (ODM's) application for leave to appeal a high court judgment last year that the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) reconsider its decision to grant ODM three licences for adult channels.

ODM executive consultant and former interim CEO Eddie Mbalo says the company is disappointed with the Supreme Court of Appeal's decision to refuse ODM the right to appeal the Western Cape High Court's initial decision.

"As a way of showing ODM's respect for the decisions of South Africa's courts, ODM has decided to terminate the broadcast of the adult content channels."

In the meantime, says Mbalo, ODM will consult its legal advisors and will then decide on the way forward, which will be announced in due course.

"We would like to emphasise that it is only the adult channels that will cease to broadcast and we will continue to offer our customers the rest of the packages and an alternative experience."

Protracted battle

The pay-TV porn fight has been going on since ODM first expressed its intention to include an adult offering in its bouquet in 2011.

The operator - currently SA's only alternative to MultiChoice's DStv offering - was eventually granted three licences in April 2013 (while operating under the name TopTV), to broadcast Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice - within a set of conditions, including a watershed period and child-proof security features.

The broadcaster's adult channels started airing in November 2013 as a standalone StarSat sex TV package, at a subscription fee of R159 per month.

While Mbalo previously denied StarSat was relying on its porn offerings as a means to survive in SA's uncompetitive pay-TV landscape, market analysts have speculated a court ruling preventing the broadcaster from airing this content could be a serious blow to the company.

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