StarTimes

StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company with strong presence in Africa.

For the newspaper in New Zealand, see Sunday Star-Times.
StarTimes
Native name
四达时代
Private
Industry
Founded1988
FounderPang Xinxing
Headquarters
Beijing
,
China
Products
Number of employees
5,000
Websitestartimestv.com

StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, provides technologies to countries and broadcasters that are switching from analog to digital television. As of July 2020, StarTimes operates in 30 countries and serves 13 million DVB subscribers and 20 million OTT users.[1]

History
StarTimes Office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

StarTimes Group was founded in 1988 by Chinese engineer Pang Xinxing.[2] He is the current chairman of StarTimes. In 2002, StarTimes began to expand its business to Africa. In 2007, it became the first digital television operator licensed by Rwanda.[2] Since then, StarTimes has established subsidiaries in 30 African countries.

In 2009, StarTimes and the Tanzania Public Service Broadcaster formed a joint venture to roll out digital migration.[3] In February 2016, StarTimes was awarded a DTH license in Ivory Coast.[4] Operations began in October 2016.[5]

On November 23, 2016, StarTimes was one of the three companies selected by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to establish and operate DTH distribution services in Pakistan for 15 years.[6] On September 2, 2017, the Government of Chad and StarTimes signed an agreement on digital migration. After a lengthy process, StarTimes was chosen to build a Digital Terrestrial Television network that will include digitization of national infrastructures, television broadcast and reception.[7] In 2018, StarTimes began to implement "Access to satellite TV for 10,000 African villages", a China-Africa cooperation project aimed at giving rural areas of Africa access to digital media.[8] In June 2018, StarTimes launched ON, a video streaming service (OTT) giving access to dozens of channels in Africa.[9]

In 2020, StarTimes e-shopping platform, StarTimes GO was launched. This interactive online shopping platform is supported by TV, Online and Phone call services and available across Africa.[10][11][12]

Seminar

In 2011, StarTimes hosted the first African Digital TV Development Seminar, which has been held for seven consecutive years; it is a talking shop for African countries to discuss digital migration in Africa.[13] The 8th edition of the Seminar held in Beijing in June 2018 had over 400 delegates, dignitaries, heads of broadcasting corporations and guests from 48 African and Asian countries.[14]

Sports broadcasting

In 2015, StarTimes signed an exclusive broadcasting contract with the Bundesliga for five years in all sub-Saharan countries, on its StarTimes Sports channels, becoming Bundesliga's partner in Africa.[15] This resulted in StarTimes and DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga organizing the StarTimes-Bundesliga Legends Tour where Bundesliga players like Lothar Matthäus, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visit African countries every year. In December 2015, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visited Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.[16]

In 2015, StarTimes obtained the rights to televise French Ligue 1 and Italian Serie A in Sub-Saharan countries.[17] In July 2015, it signed a five-year broadcasting contract for the International Champions Cup (ICC).[18] In June 2016, StarTimes also signed a three-year exclusive broadcasting contract with the Chinese Super League for Sub-Saharan Africa.[19]

In November 2016, StarTimes Group signed a media agreement with Ghana Football Association to promote the Ghana Premier League in Sub-Saharan Africa and the infrastructural development of the game in the West African country during the coming decade.[20] In January 2020, one month after losing the franchise, StarTimes won the bid and was named as Television Rights Holder of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup.[21]

In April 2017, StarTimes secured media rights for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the other 2017-2018 FIFA events in all 42 territories of Sub-Saharan Africa (except for the World Cup 2018 and the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 in South Africa).[22] StarTimes also signed a partnership with Ivoirian football club ASEC Mimosas.[23] On July 19, 2017, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights in Sub-Saharan Africa for FIBA's national team competitions during the period 2017-2021, including the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.[24]

On August 9, 2018 StarTimes and Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) announced that StarTimes acquired both the naming and broadcast rights of the Uganda Premier League and FUFA Big League for a 10 years period.[25] In September 2018, StarTimes launched a live telecast of UEFA Europa League. StarTimes will broadcast UEFA Europa League in all Sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It has been awarded exclusive rights for English, Portuguese and local languages in English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking areas until 2021.[26] In November 2018, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana in Sub-Saharan Africa, ending in the 2020/2021 season.[27]

In August 2019, StarTimes announces it acquired UEFA National Team Football broadcasting rights between 2019 and 2022, including UEFA EURO 2020 as well as Qualifiers to EURO 2020, UEFA Nations League 2020/21 and European Qualifiers to FIFA World Cup 2022. All national friendlies are also part of the contract.[28]

Philanthropy

Ebola epidemic

During the Ebola epidemic in 2014, StarTimes launched several operations in Guinea and Nigeria to raise awareness among local population. In Guinea, StarTimes made a video about Ebola virus and precautionary measures, and distributed sanitation materials to the local communities.[29][30] In Nigeria, StarTimes produced educational materials, distributed gloves and masks, and put Ebola prevention info on its website and Facebook account.[31]

StarTimes-UNAIDS cooperation

On May 12, 2017, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and StarTimes signed a memorandum of cooperation that made official a cooperation that started a year before “to reduce the impact of HIV across Africa by disseminating messages to the general public to increase awareness of HIV and UNAIDS’ work and reduce stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV and populations affected by HIV”. The first act of this cooperation was on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2016, when StarTimes broadcast UNAIDS' HIV prevention videos on its African networks in English and French until the end of the month.[32][33]

Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages

In 2017, StarTimes Group was tasked to carry out Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages, a project of the Government of China and various African governments.[34] This project was announced by China's paramount leader Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation; it is a China-Africa Cooperation project that will give access to satellite television to 10,112 villages in 25 African countries.[35]

SOS Children's Villages International

On May 14, 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, StarTimes and SOS Children's Villages International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the organizations partner towards supporting vulnerable families and children, with an emphasis on empowering youth in light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[36]

WildAid

NGO WildAid and StarTimes announced on 11 June 2019 that they will work together to raise awareness on wildlife conservation across StarTimes’ broadcast network in Africa and on StarTimes ON streaming platform.

Products

Solar Home System

StarTimes Solar Home System includes a suit of solar panel and battery, 4 LED lights, a digital TV set, a suit of satellite TV access equipment, and two years of pay-tv subscription.

Digital televisions

In 2016, StarTimes launched a digital television that supports signal inputs of both terrestrial digital television (DTT) and satellite television (DTH) without a decoder.[37] Africa is going through digital television migration.

Decoders

StarTimes developed 2-in-1 combo decoders or Dual Mode Decoders that can support both DTT and DTH services which were not common in some decoders.[38]

Projector TV

StarTimes Projector TV can project a greater-than-120 in (300 cm) picture onto a wall using DLP technology and LED light source. External devices like DVD players, decoders, and computers can be connected.[39]

Channels

Startimes' platform proposes over 480 channels and broadcasts in languages including Swahili, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, English and French.[40] StarTimes also owns and operates 42 channels[8]

Facilities

StarTimes established its translation and dubbing center, which has 10,000 hours’ output capacity, dubs in eight languages—Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba and Luganda— in 2011. In 2016, StarTimes held a Swahili dubbing competition in Tanzania. Winners were offered jobs in StarTimes' Beijing dubbing center.[41] Later, StarTimes held similar contests in Mozambique (Portuguese), South Africa (Zulu), Nigeria (Hausa), and Côte d'Ivoire (French).[42]

Criticism and controversy
See also: Debt-trap diplomacy

On October 8, 2018, British newspaper Financial Times reported increase in Zambia's monthly television levy that funds the country's state broadcaster Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), allegedly a result of a joint venture between StarTimes and ZNBC, which established a joint venture named TopStar, oif which StarTimes owns 60%, to operate multi-channel television services in the country, and was backed by Export–Import Bank of China. ZNBC borrowed US$273 million from Exim Bank, but it is rumored it could not repay the debt and it was alleged that the broadcaster increased the monthly levy to clear its debt.[43] The Financial Times has also reported about other practices related to China's debt-trap diplomacy and the Chinese Embassy in the UK have since issued counterclaims.[44]

Claims of China debt-trap diplomacy have since been dispelled by experts in various reports. [45][46][47]

gollark: Markdown is a horrible mess compatibility-wise because the original wasn't really standardized at all, so implementations were just based off a buggy Perl program, and *now* we have standards but there are a ton of different ones with mutual incompatibilities, and some applications randomly have or don't have some features.
gollark: Nope!
gollark: It's kind of weird that Discord markdown doesn't support lists.
gollark: At least it's not an attempted @ everyone ping or something.
gollark: *Why* would you buy those things, exactly?

See also
  • StarSat: StarTimes owns 20% of stakes of the South African satellite television provider.

References
  1. Appiah, Samuel Ekow Amoasi (10 July 2020). "StarTimes Ghana Donates 10,000 PPE's To Ghana Police Service". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  2. "Rwanda's ICT Highlights in 2014". Rwanda News Agency. 3 January 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  3. "STARTIMES MAPS AFRICA INTO THE DIGITALIZED WORLD". Corporate Digest. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  4. "L'identité des trois nouveaux opérateurs de réseau de distribution de bouquet télé dévoilée". Agence ivoirienne de presse. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  5. "Lancement des activités d'un nouvel opérateur de télédistribution en Côte d'Ivoire". Abidjan.net. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  6. Umair, Rasheed (24 November 2016). "Three Direct-to-Home Satellite Transmission Licenses Auctioned for Rs 4.9bn Each". MIT Technology Review Pakistan. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  7. "Tchad : Le Gouvernement accélère le passage de l'audiovisuel analogique vers le numérique". Tchadinfos.com. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  8. Li, Zhihui (7 September 2018). "New Chinese TV 'star' rises across Africa". China Daily. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  9. "StarTimes unveils VoD service app". Content Nigeria. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  10. "Sponsored: 'StarTimes GO', An E-Shopping Platform Launched In Rwanda". KT Press. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  11. Ssebwani, Javira (31 May 2020). "StarTimes e-shopping platform 'StarTimes Go' is now able to serve entire Africa". PML Daily. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  12. "A Quick Guide To StarTimes' E-Shopping Platform". Ghetto Radio. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  13. "African digital TV devt seminar starts in Beijing". The Nation. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  14. Onwuaso, Ugo (30 June 2018). "StarTimes Holds 8th African digital TV Development Seminar in Beijing". Nigeria Communications Week. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  15. "STARTIMES CONFIRMS BUNDESLIGA DEAL". Sport Industry Group. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  16. "Okocha and Oliseh to join StarTimes & Bundesliga Legends". Goal. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  17. "StarTimes proposera les championnats allemand et italien de football en exclusivité africaine". Agence Ecofin. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  18. "StarTimes to broadcast International Champions Cup LIVE and Exclusively". Goal. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  19. "StarTimes acquires Chinese Super League exclusive rights". Telco TV News. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  20. "StarTimes acquire Ghana Premier League Media Rights". Ghana Football Association. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  21. Teye, Prince Narkortu (9 January 2020). "StarTimes gets Ghana Premier League TV rights again". Goal.com.
  22. Mabuka, Dennis. "STARTIMES ACQUIRES BROADCAST RIGHTS FOR 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP". Goal. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  23. "StarTimes Côte d'Ivoire et l'ASEC Mimosas se sont dit OUI". Abidjan.net. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  24. "Africa's leading digital TV operator StarTimes acquires exclusive media rights for FIBA's 2017-2021 national team competitions". FIBA. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  25. "StarTimes Take Over Naming And Broadcasting Rights Of The Uganda Premier League". FUFA. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  26. "StarTimes launches live broadcast of UEFA Europa League". GhanaWeb. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  27. "StarTimes secures exclusive rights for Coppa Italia". Ghana Soccernet. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  28. "StarTimes to broadcast UEFA Euro 2020 and European Qualifiers". Ghana Soccer. 6 August 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  29. "Lutte contre l'épidémie Ebola : La société Star times offre des désinfectants à deux mosquées de Conakry". Guinée Matin. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  30. Xinhua (26 November 2014). "Guinée : une société chinoise de distribution d'images sensibilise contre Ebola". FOCAC. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  31. The Guardian Nigeria (25 August 2014). "Nigeria: Ebola... It's CSR Time for Startimes". All Africa. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  32. Akpunonu, Stanley (1 June 2017). "StarTimes, UNAIDS partner to help Africa end AIDS epidemic by 2030". The Guardian Nigeria. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  33. "UNAIDS, StarTimes Partner to Promote HIV/AIDS Prevention". This Day. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  34. Mo, Yelin (24 January 2018). "China Woos Guinea with Satellite-TV Deal". Caixin. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  35. "President Xi Jinping Delivers Speech at FOCAC Summit: Full Text". China Radio International. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  36. Naatogmah, Abdul Karim (16 May 2018). "StarTimes signs MOU with SOS Children's Villages to empower African youth". Citinewsroom. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  37. Mugerwa, Sydney (19 January 2017). "What we know about Startimes HD TVs with in-built decoders". dignited. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  38. Okonji, Emma (11 August 2016). "StarTimes Redefines Pay TV with 2-in-1 Combo Decoder". This Day. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  39. "Startimes Projector TV, what you need to know". Techsawa. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  40. Ogunsina, Ogunsina (22 May 2017). "StarTimes Works With Africa Towards Digitalisation". Leadership. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  41. Zhang, Xingjian (24 May 2017). "Chinese TV dramas bring world closer". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  42. "Compétition de doublage StarTimes: Après Bouaké, Cap sur Abidjan". Vibe Radio (in French). 4 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  43. Cotterill, Joseph; Pilling, David; Zhang, Archie (8 October 2018). "TV tax stirs Zambian fears over Chinese 'debt-trap' diplomacy". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  44. "Embassy Spokesperson's letter to Financial Times on its unjustified comments of "debt-trap" diplomacy" (Press release). London: Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  45. Brautigam, Deborah (2019). "A critical look at Chinese 'debt-trap diplomacy': the rise of a meme". Area Development and Policy 1-14. 10.1080/23792949.2019.1689828. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  46. Needham, Kirsty (2 May 2019). "Data doesn't support Belt and Road debt trap claims". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  47. Doherty, Ben (20 October 2019). "Experts dispel claims of China debt-trap diplomacy in Pacific but risks remain". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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