SA to get cut-price pay TV

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Fiekus

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Sorry if this has been posted before, but just spotted this:
http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-1786_2567379

Johannesburg - Pay television operator On Digital Media (ODM) has revealed details of the service it plans to launch in South Africa in May.

In an exclusive interview with Fin24.com, it was revealed that pay-television channel bouquets will priced from R99 to R249 a month.

more...
* ODM will provide Fox Entertainment, MGM and other international channels for the first time in SA.
* Packages will begin at R99 for a basic package with 30 channels and range up to R249 for a premium package with a full range of channels grouped by genre.
* ODM is in discussions with Multichoice to explore the possibility of acquiring content from DStv.
* Customers will be able to use existing DStv satellite dishes with the ODM service, but the dish will have to be repositioned.
* ODM recommends a 75cm dish and the ODM service has been designed to be more stable in bad weather than DStv.
* ODM's satellite footprint runs from northern Nigeria to Cape Town.
* ODM decoders are being provided by UEC, a division of the Altech Group.
* ODM plans to launch a PVR decoder within 12 months from launch.
* The electronic programme guide (EPG) for ODM has been designed by the NDS Group, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and is more sophisticated than what is used by Multichoice, according to Govender.
Click to expand...
 
Just to clarify.

Odm can't buy premium content from a 3rd party(dstv) it should only be local and/or sport.
They can however,buy any licenced content overseas and buy any channels,even those on dstv.Content and channels are made to be sold,it can't be locked,no matter what crap dstv told you.
There is no such thing as a dstv dish...only a satellite dish.
The middleware with epg included is mediahighway from nds,same one frree2view uses.
The encryption is videoguard(nds) and yes is very secure.
Current test channels are:
Sabc 1/2/3
etv.
CNN...see what i mean.
love channel
god channel
plus 2 with test patterns.

Their set top box is very small with the card goes in on the side.You need to activate the decoder with a voucher.You sms the voucher number and receiver number for activation.
 
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I'd want to see a listing of the channels first. The pricing doesnt sound too bad, however I love documentaries. Couldnt stomach paying DSTV R500 for Discovery and History channel though, but if ODM comes to the party with decent documentaries Im in.
 
I suppose an ODM HD service is not to be expected in the short term?
 
R99 for 30 channels, I'm game.

It's got to be better than SABC...:sick:
 
Buy Buy DSTV in May! Buy Buy Telkom in April. What better news can be experienced by any South African this year ! :D
 
I am Penguin said:
Buy Buy DSTV in May! Buy Buy Telkom in April. What better news can be experienced by any South African this year ! :D
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I'd be a bit worried about telling Telkom bye bye. I presume you are cancelling your home line and ADSL and getting an alternative? What alternative do YOU know of that is better than ADSL? Sure I hate Telkom too, but not as much as I hate iBurst, Neotel, Vodacom and MTN.
 
I totally agree Penguin.2010 is the year for change.I see ODMs launch is pretty close to when DSTV hikes its fees to the poor subscriber.Isnt Super 5 media still launching in february?
 
this sounds EXTREMELY AWESOME!!

wow 99 bucks for 30 channels?! dstv charges 5 times as much for like 80...
 
Saman said:
I suppose an ODM HD service is not to be expected in the short term?
Click to expand...

They start off with dvb-s2 mpeg4 broadcast,the perfect platform for hd.They will have a hd addon package but imo not in the short future.At best maybe with the launch of their pvr.

Remember the same satellite also have free2view and some fta channels...with more to come.
 
now all of this i cant wait for, its about time we had some competition in this country, so the " big boys " can stop ripping us off.
 
xrapidx said:
No offence, but haven't they been launching for the past two years?
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Jip, but ICASA didn't give them an upload license (or something like that), expecting them to make use of Sentech (or somebody).

Would have been nice if their (ODM) website was up and running.
 
how many of you all looked at the date to see if it was an old article lol.
 
We buy the content post-Multichoice before it goes free-to-air, and therefore offer it at a much better price
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Old content and no sport. I smell a "Neotel" dud. :(
 
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