On 29 April South Africa’s second only satellite pay-TV service was officially launched in Johannesburg by the Minister of Communications Gen. (Retired) Siphiwe Nyanda. Owned by On Digital Meida, TopTV offers bouquets from R99 to R249 per month, with a total of 52 local and international channels.
Genres are general entertainment, news & knowledge, movies, family and sport, kids, music and cultural programming.general entertainment, news, gospel and children’s shows. TopTV also offers 22 audio channels.
The launch price of TopTV decoders is R499 and this includes satellite dish, cable and installation. As from 1 May, 50,000 decoders will be available at major retail stores like Pep, Game, Makro, Dion, selected Jumbo Cash & Carry stores, CCW, Brown’s and Weirs as well as House & Home. More decoders will be rolled out in June.
TopTV offers four different pay TV packages, namely Variety, Kids and Music, Entertainment and Knowledge and Ultimate Movies. The pricing structure is as follows: Variety – R99; Variety and Kids & Music – R159; Variety and Entertainment & Knowledge – R159; Variety, Kids & Music and Entertainment & Knowledge – R189; Variety, Kids & Music and Ultimate Movies – R219; Variety, Entertainment & Knowledge and Ultimate Movies – R219; and Variety, Kids & Music, Entertainment & Knowledge and Ultimate Movies – R249.
At the launch ODM CEO Vino Govender highlighted some of the programming. “The Top History channel which will bring the history of South Africa to the fore as never before. Other highlights are BBC News, Eurosport News, six dedicated 24 hour movie channels, as well as services for the Portuguese and French communities in South Africa.’
Through well established partnerships, TopTV has secured programming and channels from household names around the world, including Fox, Warner, Disney, CBS and Discovery. Subscribers can look forward to channels like Zee Cinema (Bollywood channel), Discovery Travel & Living, Fox Entertainment, Fine Living Network, Current TV, BET, MGM, Discovery Travel & Living, Fox Entertainment, Showtime, Discovery Science, Silver, Baby TV, Setanta Africa, France24, BBC World, Hi Nolly, Kidsco, Jim Jam, Baby TV, Fuel TV, and Fox FX, to name a few.
TopTV also boasts nine locally developed channels, offering audiences a mix of local flavours, under the TopTV umbrella. These include Top One, Top Movies, Top Gospel, Top Crime and Top Learn.
For more on the TopTV launch see May issue of Screen Africa.
For more on TopTV schedule visit www.toptv.co.za.
