OpenView is a free-to-view Direct Broadcast Satellite television provider in South Africa which is run by Platco Digital. It was launched on 15 October 2013, but struggled at first to grow its base.
History
The sister company of e.tv, Platco Digital, launched the Openview HD platform on 16 October 2013. The main reason was that the digital migration in South Africa was at a slow pace: Companies given tenders took too long to deliver, funding of subsidised decoders, and a debate between the major TV channels of whether DTT decoders should have conditional access or not. In March 2016 eMedia brought in a new managing director, Patrick Conroy, who had previously run the groups news company including its 24-hour news service eNCA. Growth has been attributed to Platco subsidizing its set-top-box to keep the retail price low and successfully negotiating distribution deals with South Africa's top retail chains. OpenView does not charge monthly subscription fees but instead relies on carriage fees and advertising.
The second public-owned local channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which mainly focuses on sports, news, soaps etc.
103 SABC3
The third public-owned local channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which mainly focuses on international and local movies and soaps mostly in English.
104 e.tv
The first free-to-air channel and the largest English spoken channel in South Africa. It mainly focuses on international movies and local soaps and it also broadcasts international content.
105 eExtra
The latest addition to the e.tv bouquet is a new general entertainment channel that serves up an enticing variety of premium entertainment in HD.
A movie channel powered by e.tv which broadcasts international movies, including action, romance, comedy, family and drama. It was previously named eMovies+
107 eMovies Extra
A movie channel powered by e.tv which only broadcasts international blockbuster movies, including action, romance, comedy, family and drama.
108 eReality
A channel that promises to be a binge-watchers paradise with thrilling real-life stories, fascinating characters, and raw human emotion.
A 24/7 Bollywood channel in English created exclusively for an African audience. Showcasing a fusion of the very best family dramas, celebrity dance shows and blockbuster movies from Star’s famed library of A-List Bollywood movies.
111 Pop-Up channel
e.tv adds limited-run channels that are exclusive to Openview viewers. So far, two pop-up channels have been created. eForce was the first one to be created, being a high-action movie channel that lasts for 31 days uninterrupted by ad breaks, and is the most popular channel. The platform aired a secondary pop-up movie channel, 21 Days of Comedy, which started on Monday, 9 September 2019 at 12pm and ended on 29 September 2019.
115 Fight Sports
A sports channel dedicated to MMA, Boxing and Wrestling. Fight Sports is a freemium brand, acquiring premium sport content around the world.
120 News and Sports
An independent news channel from eMedia Investments which broadcasts local and international current affairs, showbiz, business, celebrity news and many more from around the world.
British-owned Global News Channel which broadcasts news, art, travel, culture and programmes, 24/7
130 eToonz
A kids channel owned by e.tv which broadcasts children cartoons.
134 Mindset TV
A learning and educational channel from the Mindset Network. It is used to educate students from home and teaches subjects like mathematics, maths literacy, science, accounting etc. for high school pupils in grade 8–12.
140 Glow TV
A channel that broadcasts Bollywood contents. The languages are configured into English from its original Indian languages. Radio Stations