Star Times is set to expand it’s broadcast of Pornography television content across the continent and to Uganda under the StarSat brand which brought Top Tv.
StarSat is the Direct To Home DTH pay television service that Star times is planning to use as part of its roll out of a DTH service across the continent. The company already offers Digital Terrestrial Television Services DTT in a number of African countries including Uganda. ODM and Star Times changed the Top TV brand into StarSat earlier this year after the later acquired a majority shareholding in Top TV amid opposition from the original shareholders who feared massive dilution of their shares.
Eddie Mbalo the interim CEO of On Digital Media in South Africa announced that they will be bringing porn to Africa and starting with South Africa then spend the service to all their branches. The service to expect include African Porn, Playboy TV and the hardcore Private Spice channel.
However in Uganda pornography on television and online is a major point of controversy and discussion following the recent media scandal where students of Uganda Christian University (UCU) produced a pornographic video which was leaked online instantly went viral.
There is fear that the creation of an outlet for such material could lead to the development and growth of a burgeoning pornographic industry exploiting poor and disadvantaged youth most of whom are unemployed.
James Onyango a broadcasting consultant said that paid television is very competitive and requires an elevated level of investment in both content and infrastructure to successfully penetrate the market. According to him Star times appears to be taking the easy way out, as Porn content is very cheap and easily available. This approach is of a company with limited resources and wants to make a quick buck.
The concern should be with the negative effects this kind of content broadcasting can have on the market in terms of distorting the playing field and driving the youth towards watching morally unacceptable programming.
He urged the UCC and the other East African broadcasting and communications regulators to be very careful before giving Star times a license to offer DTH services because it would become near impossible for them to block the pornographic content which would be beamed directly into the household and be readily available to minors. In Uganda the UCC needs to halt this impending time bomb by putting in place the necessary structures and policies in place before the digital migration takes place in the next two years and more spectrum is made available to new broadcasters.
