Telkom announced the creation of Telkom Media in August 2006, and in September 2007 the company was one of a handful of new operators which received pay-TV licenses from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).<\/p>\n
Telkom Media was initially seen as the only newly licensed pay-TV operator which could really take on MultiChoice, but after the licensing and planning euphoria wore off Telkom realized that making money in the pay-TV market may not be as easy as it thought it would be.<\/p>\n
In May 2009 Telkom announced that it had sold its stake in Telkom to Shenzen Media, and the company was later renamed to Super 5 Media.<\/p>\n
It seems that consumers’ high expectations of Telkom Media disappeared with its name change, and with good reason. To date Super 5 Media has not made headlines for launching new cost-effective services, but rather for its legal battles and staff retrenchments.<\/p>\n
In October 2009 the company said that it was planning to start providing a commercial pay-TV service in the first half of this year, a planned launch date which the company confirmed early last month. The first of June came and went without a word from the company, and it looks like Super 5 Media has now gone to ground. <\/p>\n
Despite numerous attempts to get feedback from Super 5 Media about their operations and plans, the company only made empty promises to call back with information without ever returning calls or emails.<\/p>\n
The company’s troubled past does not seem to be behind it just yet, but with Top TV’s recent launch Super 5 Media may be well advised to enter the market sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n