Three new HD DSTV channels planned

What does that brief and pointless history of Naspers have to do with this discussion?
 
What conspiracy?..

That Naspers have been an intelligent company and have been buying up companies that will help them grow their profit margins and diversify their market?
 
Quantum Theory said:
He must be thinking there is some kind of conspiracy going on...
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How come there has never been any competition, maybe because members of the government past and present own an unhealthy amount of shares in the above. Money out of SABC is money in MC/naspers. Who cares.

You buy a MC decoder from a MC approved dealer, but the catch is to get the price, you get your dish installation from an approved MC approved installer who gets the hardware from a MC partner (eg. Ellies). And for all of that, you then qualify to get f..ked in the @ss each month by mc (naspers)

MC's subscriber base in SA is small compared to overseas markets. Where did all the money come from? See (getting f..ked in the @ss each month)
 
telkomreallysux said:
How come there has never been any competition, maybe because members of the government past and present own an unhealthy amount of shares in the above. Money out of SABC is money in MC/naspers. Who cares.

You buy a MC decoder from a MC approved dealer, but the catch is to get the price, you get your dish installation from an approved MC approved installer who gets the hardware from a MC partner (eg. Ellies). And for all of that, you then qualify to get f..ked in the @ss each month by mc (naspers)

MC's subscriber base in SA is small compared to overseas markets. Where did all the money come from? See (getting f..ked in the @ss each month)
Click to expand...

While I clearly didn't do the research you did (wikipedia) the only thing that comes to mind is that it is a conspiracy theory. I say that, because in all walks of life there are 'preferred partners'. You choose your friends, your brands your tastes. You choose your career, your employer, your investments.
In turn, the company that employes you will most likeley have a market that they cater for, with their preferred partners and their products, maybe subtle ones that you don't even realize, such as who to buy the paper from or maybe more obvious, are the PC's Dell or HP?

In this case, all I can see from your posts is that Naspers is positioning themselves and seems to like the Instant Messaging market. You mention competition, heck if only we could say that Pay TV was the only area where there wasn't true competition then ok, but sadly it's not.
 
Lazy said:
In this case, all I can see from your posts is that Naspers is positioning themselves and seems to like the Instant Messaging market. You mention competition, heck if only we could say that Pay TV was the only area where there wasn't true competition then ok, but sadly it's not.
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This thread started from only being able to use a MC decoder, even though it uses IRDETO2 (naspers) encryption. What people here don't realize, is that although you can buy far better cheaper decoders overseas and fit them with an IRDETO2 cam (client access module), MC has it's own proprietary smartcards, that will not work outside their decoders. Considering the cr@p quality of MC hardware, especially the bugs in the HD PVR, it puts a bug up my @ss, that this closed market can contunue.

'MultiChoice has also previously said that it is not willing to share its decoder with new entrants, which means migrating from MultiChoice to a new pay-TV provider will incur additional hardware costs.' (broadband.cp.za)

Why does MC not make 'free to air' channels available on all bouquets. Why do you have to buy a foreign bouquet to get channels that are free. Do they not charge enough already?
 
Why would any of the new entrants want MC's hardware which is old and outdated now?

You really need to research your topic before you start an attack on a company....

And there is NOTHING illegal about having a proprietary box for their system.... lots of providers do it.... The middleware on the boxes is coded by them, for their systems...
 
a whole 3 channels WOW! stop Multichoice you killing us, it's just too much for us to handle... The HD decoder is a joke anyways...the most defected piece of trash ever released on the market. Yet another crap South African company.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Why would any of the new entrants want MC's hardware which is old and outdated now?

You really need to research your topic before you start an attack on a company....

And there is NOTHING illegal about having a proprietary box for their system.... lots of providers do it.... The middleware on the boxes is coded by them, for their systems...
Click to expand...

I you had dropped R3500 on a MC decoder, would you be happy to ditch it for something else?
All the satellites are in geostationary orbit around the equator (lyngsat.com) including intelsat 7/10 (mc). Australia and Europe all use the same type of decoders. The content providers just sell the smartcard which buys you a selection of your choice (sh..t, I forgot, it's monochoice)
Why are you so defensive of this cr@p system. Have you never lived in another country?
 
telkomreallysux said:
I you had dropped R3500 on a MC decoder, would you be happy to ditch it for something else?
All the satellites are in geostationary orbit around the equator (lyngsat.com) including intelsat 7/10 (mc). Australia and Europe all use the same type of decoders. The content providers just sell the smartcard which buys you a selection of your choice (sh..t, I forgot, it's monochoice)
Why are you so defensive of this cr@p system. Have you never lived in another country?
Click to expand...

What does satellite positions have to do with anything?
 
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Quantum Theory said:
What does satellite positions have to do with anything?
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Sentech Tower in Gauteng is about 26°S latitude 28°E longitude.
Europe and Africa satellites range from 2°E to 72°E, mc intelsat 7/10 being 68.5°E (quite a way off 28°E)
http://www.lyngsat.com/intel7.html
http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/intel7.html

Satellites can beam to the northern or southern hemisphere or both. There are plenty of other satellites (+-65) covering europe/africa, especially C band.
http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html

You get a decoder (HDPVR from about $100) that can position your motorized dish to the satellite of choice, and with the appropiate CAM ($20-$50) and smartcard (depends on your choice/provider), you watch what you want in addition to a bunch of free-to-air which mc conveniently blocks.

mc has programmed their decoder so you can't use it with any other services (wonder why) probably explains all the bugs in their decoders.
Can SA really afford this proprietary technology? I bet mc pays a bunch for the skills (if they can get them)

Go to lyngsat.com to see the transmission footprints over SA.
 
I work in the technical department at one of the biggest suppliers in this industry in South Africa. I know how it works. I also know that there is no worthwhile English programming available to us here in South Africa, besides MC. The footprints don't cover us. On C-band you'll be able to indulge yourself in some Chinese, Arabic, French etc etc programming and all that free religious stuff.

Be happy with the service that you get from MC. It is the only one available to you and pretty damn good for a third world country. Also, they didn't ask to be "Monochoice", which you guys like to call them. That is just the way it played out.

Lastly, remember that they were running DSTV at a loss for the first few years and they were the only service available. It is an extremely costly exercise to start-up a new satellite broadcasting company. ODM is facing an uphill battle of epic proportions. I won't hold my breath.
 
Quantum Theory said:
I work in the technical department at one of the biggest suppliers in this industry in South Africa.
Click to expand...
I guess you probably get better pricing than most, and access to those good old PACE decoders mc doesn't want us to have?

I think monochoice is more because of the apparent protection Icasa/governement has provided mc by preventing anyone else coming in, as well their use of numskulls to run the SABC. The market is too small to attract any major players so I doubt anything will change. It would certainly be an act of good faith if mc offered more flexible options, a sports pack, documentary pack, news pack, or combinations. If it weren't for Discovery/BBC* I would not be a subscriber.

Unfortunately, like SAA et al, the ANC will bail out the SABC regardless of TV licenses or advertising revenue. At least we don't have to buy a SABC TV and antenna. I am taking bets on whether they will ever switch off analogue.

As far as mc running at a loss in the beginning, that's probably the standard business model (even Amazon took about 5 years) You just have to look at mc's share price over the years to know they are making a hell of a lot of money in SA.

When the original smartcards were hacked, mc should just have started using the standards the other countries use, instead of trying to maintain their own encryption (i sure that must be costing them a fortune). It would also allow us a choice of decoders, my major grudge with mc.

The Greeks, Portuguese, Indians, Muslims, French speaking, to name a few, would be quite happy with some of the foreign channels. If a competitor decided to use satellite, I don't think they will have too much trouble getting their content beamed down here.

A lot of DSTV subscribers I know pay for one thing, sport. They happily justify the cost because their viewing revolves around sport. DSTV has that well sewn up with contracts, so what another provider will have to offer to make existing DSTV subscribers jump ship, who knows. I would think the pay tv market consumers are pretty much gobbled up by mc. I doubt there are too many people dying to spend their cash on another R500/pm offering when it comes along.

I agree with you that an alternative will probably never happen. Maybe if internet costs come down enough, or some satellite offering decides to pipe more english content through to SA. There are satellites going up all the time and I am sure that that market will become far more competitive when internet TV really hits overseas. With the internet penetration in Africa I doubt they shaking in their boots.

For the moment I see mc as charging far too much for their decoder compared to overseas. The range is now extremely limited. No more Dual-View for those who don't want HD, just HD and that R500 joke and the multiview. The monthly charge is too high, or they should allow better channel selection and save us from paying for content we don't want. There is hardly any stereo, never mind Dolby 5.1 which is offered overseas. So for the price, we are getting screwed.

Between a rock and a hard place....
 
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