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StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company with strong presence in
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. StarTimes offers
digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
and
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcasters that are switching from
analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
to digital television. , StarTimes operates in 30 countries, serving 13 million
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
subscribers and 20 million OTT users.


History

StarTimes Group was founded in 1988 by Chinese engineer Pang Xinxing, who is also the company's current chairman. In 2002, StarTimes began to expand its business to Africa. In 2007, it became the first digital television operator licensed by
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
. Since then, StarTimes has established subsidiaries in 30 African countries. In 2009, StarTimes and the
Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation is a television network. It is Tanzania's national network and is government-owned and operated. History Radio broadcasts began on 1 July 1951. Until 1994, there was no single television network operating on ...
formed a joint venture to roll out digital migration. In February 2016, StarTimes was awarded a DTH license in Ivory Coast. Operations began in October 2016. On 23 November 2016, StarTimes was one of the three companies selected by the
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) ( ur, ) is an independent and constitutionally established federal institution responsible for regulating and issuing channel licenses for establishment of the mass media culture, print a ...
(PEMRA) to establish and operate DTH distribution services in Pakistan for 15 years. On 2 September 2017, the
Government of Chad The Government of Chad has been ruled by Mahamat Déby since 20th April 2021. The Republic of Chad maintains an embassy in the United States at 2401 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington D.C. Cabinet See also * Minister of Foreign Affairs ( ...
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. In 2018, StarTimes began to implement "
Access to satellite TV for 10,000 African villages Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages is a China–Africa cooperation project that aims to reduce the digital divide in African rural areas by giving villages access to digital television. As of April 2019, projects had been completed ...
", a China-Africa cooperation project aimed at giving rural areas of Africa access to digital media. In 2017, the
Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is a Zambian television and radio station, formerly state owned, now technically a statutory body but still essentially under government control. It is the oldest, widest, and largest radio and ...
(ZNBC) and StarTimes launched TopStar Communication Company Limited, a public signal distributor and Zambia's official digital migration agent, as a joint-venture. In June 2018, StarTimes launched ON, a video streaming service (OTT) giving access to dozens of channels in Africa. 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.


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. 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.


Sports broadcasting

In 2015, StarTimes signed an exclusive broadcasting contract with the
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
for five years in all sub-Saharan countries, on its
StarTimes Sports StarTimes Sports is a chain of pay-television sports broadcasting channels operated by StarTimes in sub-Saharan Africa. History StarTimes first foray into sports broadcasting was in 2012, when it purchased a package of Italian Serie A games ...
channels, becoming Bundesliga's partner in Africa. This resulted in StarTimes and DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga organizing the ''StarTimes-Bundesliga Legends Tour'' where Bundesliga players like
Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup whe ...
, 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. In 2015, StarTimes obtained the rights to televise French
Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
and Italian
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
in
Sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...
countries. In July 2015, it signed a five-year broadcasting contract for the
International Champions Cup The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football exhibition competition. In 2020, it was abolished due to COVID-19 pandemic. Format The format has changed in each competition. Subsequent tournaments have had diffe ...
(ICC). In June 2016, StarTimes also signed a three-year exclusive broadcasting contract with the
Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...
for Sub-Saharan Africa. In November 2016, StarTimes Group signed a media agreement with
Ghana Football Association The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is a governing body of association football, based in Accra. Founded in 1957, it was dissolved with "immediate effect", according to Minister of Sport, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, on 7 June 2018, after the uncover ...
to promote the
Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...
in Sub-Saharan Africa and the infrastructural development of the game in the West African country during the coming decade. 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. In April 2017, StarTimes secured media rights for
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
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). StarTimes also signed a partnership with Ivoirian football club
ASEC Mimosas The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Côte d'Ivoire, Ivorian Association football, football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ''ASEC Mimosas A ...
. On 19 July 2017, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights in Sub-Saharan Africa for
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...
's national team competitions from 2017 to 2021, including the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. On 9 August 2018, StarTimes and
Federation of Uganda Football Associations The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) is the governing body of association football in Uganda. The association was founded in 1924, became affiliated with FIFA in 1960 and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 1961. In 1 ...
(FUFA) announced that StarTimes acquired both the naming and broadcast rights of the
Uganda Premier League The Ugandan Premier League, also known as the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. The league was previously known as the Uganda Super League but changed in ...
and
FUFA Big League The Ugandan Big League is the second tier of Ugandan football pyramid. History Original concept The concept of re-structuring Ugandan football with the creation of a new second tier league was first mooted in October 2008 by the Federation ...
for a 10 years period. In September 2018, StarTimes launched a live telecast of
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
. 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. In November 2018, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights to
Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
and Supercoppa Italiana in Sub-Saharan Africa, ending in the 2020/2021 season. In August 2019, StarTimes announces it acquired UEFA National Team Football broadcasting rights between 2019 and 2022, including
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
as well as Qualifiers to Euro 2020, UEFA Nations League 2020/21 and European Qualifiers to 2022 FIFA World Cup. All national friendlies are also part of the contract. Early August 2020, StarTimes acquired Spanish top league LaLiga Santander broadcasting rights until 2024 across sub-Saharan Africa. Later the same year,
Football Kenya Federation The Football Kenya Federation (abbreviated as Football Kenya or FKF) is the governing body of football in Kenya. The FKF organizes the Kenyan Premier League, the Kenyan Women's Premier League, FKF Division One, FKF Women Division One and Keny ...
(FKF) unveiled StarTimes as their official broadcasting partners for the FKF Premier League, while the
Football Association of Zambia The Football Association of Zambia is the governing body of association football in Zambia founded in 1929 and based at the "Football House" on Alick Nkhata Road in Lusaka, the country's capital. Affiliated to CAF and FIFA in 1964 and COSAFA i ...
(FAZ) signed a tripartite broadcast sponsorship deal with ZNBC and TopStar (StarTimes) resulting in
National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...
matches being shown live on TV. In January 2021, The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) officialized the signing of an agreement by which StarTimes obtains the broadcasting rights for the Total African Nations Championship, Cameroon 2020 (Total CHAN Cameroon 2020).


Philanthropy


Ebola epidemic

During the
Ebola epidemic This list of Ebola outbreaks records the known occurrences of Ebola virus disease, a highly infectious and acutely lethal viral disease that has afflicted humans and animals primarily in equatorial Africa. The pathogens responsible for the d ...
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 ''Zaire ebolavirus'', more commonly known as Ebola virus (; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus ''Ebolavirus''. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and ot ...
and precautionary measures, and distributed sanitation materials to the local communities. In Nigeria, StarTimes produced educational materials, distributed gloves and masks, and put Ebola prevention info on its website and Facebook account.


StarTimes-UNAIDS cooperation

On 12 May 2017, the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...
(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 World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired imm ...
, 1 December 2016, when StarTimes broadcast UNAIDS' HIV prevention videos on its African networks in English and French until the end of the month.


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 Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages is a China–Africa cooperation project that aims to reduce the digital divide in African rural areas by giving villages access to digital television. As of April 2019, projects had been completed ...
, a project of the
Government of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
and various African governments. This project was announced by China's paramount leader
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
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.


SOS Children's Villages International

On 14 May 2018 in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, 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).


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. 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.


Projector TV

StarTimes Projector TV can project a greater-than- picture onto a wall using DLP technology and
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
light source. External devices like DVD players, decoders, and computers can be connected.


Spark tv

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


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. Later, StarTimes held similar contests in Mozambique (Portuguese), South Africa (Zulu), Nigeria (Hausa), and Côte d'Ivoire (French).


Criticism and controversy

On 8 October 2018, British newspaper ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' reported increase in
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
's monthly television levy that funds the country's state broadcaster
Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is a Zambian television and radio station, formerly state owned, now technically a statutory body but still essentially under government control. It is the oldest, widest, and largest radio and ...
(ZNBC), allegedly a result of a joint venture between StarTimes and ZNBC, which established a joint venture named TopStar, of which StarTimes owns 60%, to operate multi-channel television services in the country, and was backed by
Export–Import Bank of China The Export–Import Bank of China (; Exim Bank) is one of two institutional banks in China chartered to implement the state policies in industry, foreign trade, economy, and foreign aid to other developing countries, and provide policy fina ...
. ZNBC borrowed 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. The ''Financial Times'' has also reported about other practices related to China's
debt-trap diplomacy Debt-trap diplomacy is an international financial relationship where a creditor country or institution extends debt to a borrowing nation partially, or solely, to increase the lender's political leverage. The creditor country is said to extend ...
and the Chinese Embassy in the UK have since issued counterclaims. Claims of China debt-trap diplomacy have since been dispelled by experts in various reports. Multiple outlets have also claimed that StarTimes is promoting news content that favours the Chinese government by placing
China Global Television Network China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is reg ...
channels on the platform's most cheapest package, while other international news channels, such as
BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and ...
, cost even more. On many of its in-house channels, regardless of genre, the platform airs programming about the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
and its activities in China, offering prizes to entrants who answer questions about China and its history.


See also

* StarSat: StarTimes owns 20% of stakes of the South African satellite television provider.


References


External links


Official Website

StarTimes Group Corporate Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:StarTimes Mass media companies established in 1988 Entertainment companies established in 1988 Electronics companies established in 1988 Chinese companies established in 1988 Television in Africa Direct broadcast satellite services Pay television High-definition television