New OpenView HD service to offer a number of free TV channels for a once-off installation fee in South Africa, industry players confirm

A new satellite broadcasting service is coming to South Africa, offering 15 channels in a mix of standard and high definition without charging a monthly subscription fee. This is according to documents in MyBroadband’s possession and has been confirmed by electronics distributor Ellies.

MyBroadband has received two documents pertaining to a road show for “OpenView HD”, which were circulated to industry players.

One brochure asks stakeholders to indicate their intention to attend the road show to Ellies. The other brochure lists a phone number for a recent entrant to the satellite TV equipment distribution game, Switch Digital.

According to Ellies, the new TV service will use the same satellites as TopTV – Astra 5°E – and they expect the decoder and installation to be a once-off cost of around R1,899, dependent on retailer.

When asked which channels OpenView HD would offer, Ellies directed queries to OpenView. Switch Digital explained that they had not yet received confirmation of the channel line-up.
Platco Digital and E-tv behind OpenView HD: sources

When MyBroadband contacted the OpenView spokesperson for comment they answered our first call, but indicated that we should phone back at a more convenient time.

Since then they have been dodging our calls and ignoring our e-mails.

However, the OpenView spokesperson has a platco.co.za e-mail address and a quick search online reveals that Frans Lindeque has updated his LinkedIn profile to say that he is now the CTO at Platco Digital.

Lindeque was formerly the CTO of Top TV.

The Platco domain is also registered to “e.tv Pty Limited”, and two industry sources have confirmed that E-tv is a stakeholder in OpenView HD.

It is understood that OpenView is aimed at the LSM 4–7 market, which according to the South African Audience Research Foundation, translates to households with an average income of just over R3,000 to just over R10,000.

The OpenView HD road show starts on Monday (22 July 2013) in Port Elizabeth and at the time of writing was set to run until 2 August 2013, with the last stop in Durban.

According to industry sources, Platco and E-tv are aiming to launch OpenView HD as early as October 2013.

Source: My Broadband – Jan Vermeulen