The uptake of OpenView HD, a subscription-free satellite TV service, has been slower than expected for a variety of reasons, though the pace of set-top box take-up has picked up over the past few months.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the word from Maxwell Nonge, managing director of Platco Digital which operates OpenView HD, and is a sister company to E-tv.<\/p>\n
Nonge was responding to questions asked after electronics manufacturer Ellies said in its financial results that a large drop in its earnings for the year ended April 2014 was due to the poor uptake of the service.<\/p>\n
News of the launch of OpenView HD was first reported<\/a> during July 2013, and the service became commercially available at the start of October with a bouquet of 15 channels.<\/p>\n The first decoders from Ellies\/Elsat went on sale for around R1,000, and a full installation cost upwards of R1,600.<\/p>\n Over the following months, the retail price of the Elsat OpenView HD decoder decreased to around R850. Space then entered the market<\/a>\u00a0with a decoder of its own at a recommended retail price of R999.<\/p>\n Asked what the uptake of OpenView HD has been over the past nine months, Nonge said that 37,606 households<\/strong> now have OpenView decoders, which he said amounts to approximately 188,000 viewers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Nonge said they had hoped that South Africa\u2019s migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT)<\/a> would have started by now, driving general consumer interest in digital television and the conversion from analogue to digital.<\/p>\n In addition to seeing an encouraging upward trend of OpenView HD set-top box activations in the past few months, Nonge said they have other plans to boost uptake.<\/p>\n \u201cOpenView HD has also embarked on a programme with the Department of Communications to enhance learning in schools around the country by providing big screen television sets and OpenView HD decoders,\u201d Nonge said.<\/p>\n There are two education channels currently available on OpenView HD: Mindset Learn, which has content aligned with the South African school syllabus; and Da Vinci Learning.<\/p>\n OpenView HD sales slow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n OpenView HD launches Trial TV: The State vs Oscar Pistorius<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Online video in South Africa from E-tv<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nRelated OpenView HD news<\/h3>\n