DStv rival launches legal action

StarSat-owner On Digital Media (ODM) is exploring legal avenues against the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to restore its services and return its equipment.

This follows a raid carried out by the regulator and the South African Police Service on Wednesday, 2 October 2024, in which authorities disconnected and confiscated StarSat equipment.

“StarSat confirms that earlier today, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, accompanied by the South African Police Service, entered its Midrand offices and disconnected services,” it said in a statement.

“ODM is exploring all legal avenues to resolve this issue swiftly and restore services. The company’s legal representatives have urgently approached the courts and will continue to keep all stakeholders, including customers, employees, and the media, informed as the situation progresses.”

“While ODM acknowledges an ongoing dispute, it strongly contests the disconnection of a valid StarTimes Media connection, which it believes to be unlawful,” it added.

StarSat noted that the disconnection of its services impacted not only South African services but also its pan-African broadcast.

It acknowledges Icasa’s mandate to shut down ODM’s services in the country but adds that it is “appalled” by how Icasa disregarded its request for discussion regarding which equipment must be removed.

“Instead, Icasa opted to remove all equipment, including that belonging to StarTimes Media, which has adversely affected its pan-African broadcast services,” StarSat stated.

“This disconnection is highly concerning as it affects legitimate operations.”

The raid followed StarSat’s failure to cease its South African operations by 18 September 2024, as instructed by the regulator.

StarSat marketing manager Jan Hendrik Harmse said authorities didn’t bring the right technicians to know what they should remove.

He said StarSat had applied for an urgent interdict to reconnect its services. Still, even if approved, it would need to assess the damages before it could begin reconnecting everything.

The pay-TV broadcaster’s licence expired in July 2023, and it only submitted its application to Icasa in November.

According to the Electronic Communications Act, broadcasters must submit their renewal applications no earlier than a year and no later than six months before their licence expires.

“The authority does not have the legislative or regulatory mandate to consider a renewal application for a licence that has already expired,” Icasa said.

Harmse said StarSat acknowledged the late application but had regularly engaged with Icasa to explain the problems it faced leading up to the expiry.

“We did have a deadline to meet, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we couldn’t get the right investors in, there were shareholder agreements that still needed to be finalised, and we kept communicating the issue to them,” he said.

“We kept saying it will be late if you want all the paperwork at the same time. So, we did submit late, but we submitted everything we needed to.”

He added that, according to regulations, StarSat has checked all the boxes and should be allowed to operate.