Statement from The Walt Disney Company Africa:
“We can confirm that our channels (Fox, Fox Life, ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox Portuguese, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic Portuguese, Baby TV, Voyage, National Geographic French, Nat Geo Wild French) are currently not being provided to StarSat. This follows ongoing commercial issues with StarSat.
Despite Disney’s negotiations in good faith and significant efforts to find a resolution, The Walt Disney Company Africa has had to suspend the feeds of all our channels to StarSat at this time.
We continue to work to find a positive resolution but in the meantime our channels will remain available on various other platforms across the continent. Viewers are encouraged to visit https://www.foxafrica.com/, https://www.natgeotv.com/za, and https://www.espn.com/ to find tune-in information.”
Statement from StarSat:
1. Yes these channels - FOX, FOX LIFE, NGC and NGW were offline from 1st October 2019
2. The current Fox channel discontinuation is an extra ordinary occurrence as proliferation of 5G signal testing stations (in SA), due to rapid expansion of 5G network has created unavoidable interference with signal feeds of aforementioned channels.
The 5G signal testing is specifically interfering with c-band satellite frequency which has in turn compromised viewer experience in terms of sound and picture quality.
This has caused unacceptably high levels of viewer dissatisfaction amongst loyal StarSat subscribers. We are unfortunately left with little or no choice but to indefinitely suspend the effected channels.
3. Channel replacement measures aimed at revitalising and refreshing our content offer are currently underway.
