StarSat leaves business rescue, but troubles not over

StarSat has ended its business rescue process, which had been running for the past four years.

According to a report by the Sunday Times, the business rescue process was ended as the company was no longer “financially distressed”.

Peter van den Steen, the consultant who managed the business rescue, made the call – which was was confirmed by law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Despite it financial situation improving, the report stated that StarSat was still struggling to retain customers and channels.

Arthur Goldstuck, founder of World Wide Worx, said StarSat was a “train wreck in slow motion”.

He said all indications were that its subscriber base “had not recovered significantly after collapsing from around 140,000 in 2012 to around 110,000 in 2014”.

StarSat was formerly known as TopTV, which was launched in 2010. It initially secured over 300,000 subscribers, but filed for business rescue in 2012.

In 2013, shareholders agreed to sell shares to StarTimes Media, after which a transfer of the pay-TV licence to the Chinese firm was approved.

The full report is in the Sunday Times of 21 August 2016.

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