Why does DSTV start at 100?

[Rickster]

Any logical reason why DSTV starts at channel 100 and not 1?

Just out of curiosity.

 

[vicv]

Wasn't always that way. When DSTV just came out you could move channels around where you wanted to. For example you could put Mnet on channel 2 or 10 or 50 or wherever. My guess is they changed it so that they can organise/group similar channels more effectively.

 

[F1 Fan]

I remember it being 10 or 5 or 27. Hate that they moved it into hundreds. Not like they offered much more channels anyway.

 

[The_Ogre]

Wasn't always that way. When DSTV just came out you could move channels around where you wanted to. For example you could put Mnet on channel 2 or 10 or 50 or wherever. My guess is they changed it so that they can organise/group similar channels more effectively.

You sure about that? It almost sounds like you're referring to the TV channels and not the channels of the decoder.

 

[vicv]

You sure about that? It almost sounds like you're referring to the TV channels and not the channels of the decoder.

Yup, sure. You could go into the settings on the DSTV decoder and switch around the channels where you wanted them. (Not the TV channels.)

 

[Keeper]

Because it makes it seem like there are more channels.

DSTV doesn't really need triple digits used up to channel 447, but it might make non subscribers visiting friends think there are more channels then what there really are.
"wow, channel 121, KykNet is channel 144, Nat Geo is 181, CN 301" How many channels are there?!

The more confusing the channels organization is, the more channels it seems.

A pile of mixed coins seems like more vs. neat stacks, because you can't determine how much there really is as easily.

 

[Captain Beer]

lol @ the conspiracy theories.

The channels are grouped according to genre. When they were only using 2 digits, they started running out of space in certain genres. AFAIK there are over 120 channels on premium at the moment.