Justin Pearce
African Satellite Entertainment Corporation (Asec), the dark horse of satellite broadcasting in South Africa, is to announce a broadcast package next week which could pose a serious challenge to rivals MultiChoice.
There is speculation that Asec has secured South African broadcast rights to Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV — which offers a wide variety of movies and entertainment
This would set the scene for a war between the two broadcasters — a war made more bitter by the fact that to receive both broadcast packages viewers will have to duplicate much of their receiving equipment.
Asec has already entered the market with a single- channel broadcast on an unencrypted analogue system. MultiChoice expects to begin broadcasting in October, using a digital system with certain channels requiring a decoder for viewing.
MultiChoice has the advantage of familiarity with the South African TV market, stemming from its links with M-Net. It also has the backing of a large part of the print media.
Asec, on the other hand, has a toe in the door with its existing sport channel — which will become a foot in the door once it announces its mystery package on July 28. But its biggest trump-card is its commitment to free viewing, at least in the interim.
One supplier in Johannesburg estimated that an all-in hardware package to receive Asec costs about R1 800, a price which will come down once import duty on satellite dishes is reduced. A package for MultiChoice will cost around R4 500 after the reduction in import
MultiChoice’s plans to go on air have been hampered by technical problems with the launch of the PAS-4 satellite. While MultiChoice has promised that the PAS- 4 will be launched on August 1, sources in the satellite industry say that the Ariane rocket — which is to send the satellite into orbit — has no scheduled launch on that date. Asec bypassed the launch problems by using a pre-existing Intelsat satellite.
* Moribo Investments, a division of Nthato Motlana’s Thebe Investments Group, has joined forces with Upton International Broadcast and Communications to bring coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games to Africa.
In South Africa, Moribo and Upton will be working with the SABC, which has secured the rights to broadcast coverage of the Games in South Africa. The joint venture will be making use of SABC production facilities in Atlanta to produce a daily package to be beamed via satellite into Africa.
Upton International negotiated the sale of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics to the SABC and the 1993 Lillehamer Winter Games to M-Net.