All You Need To Know About StarTimes Nigeria
|StarTimes Nigeria is a subsidiary of Startimes Media, a Chinese based company which offers Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Network Services in Nigeria.
Established in 1988 in China, StarTimes currently operates in 8 African Countries namely; Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Guinea, Central African Republic, and Burundi.
Startimes Nigeria TV Network is a collaboration between the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and its Chinese partners and was introduced into the Nigerian market in 2010.
It boasts of being the first digital TV to hit the market with a DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcast on Terrestrial) technology which does not require the installation of a satellite dish to deploy its services.
Unlike most other pay TV services in Nigeria, StarTimes has simple-to-install antenna decoders which require no dish. Also, with its low tariffs, StarTimes has brought digital TV within the means of very many Nigerians.
In 2010, pay TV was faced with rising cost and competition amidst deteriorating economic trends. The players in the industry had to constantly re-strategise to ensure continual survival and profitability.
However, StarTimes, claims to be the market leader in its DTT category, insisting that it is the fastest growing digital pay TV platform in Africa.
Through its Direct-to-home (DTH) offering called Dish TV, StarTimes says it is gaining serious mileage among subscribers and warming its way into the heart and homes of Nigerians with its innovative, affordable pricing and rich contents.
StarTimes nationwide coverage areas include; Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Aba, Benin, Enugu, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Markurdi, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Uyo, Yola, and Ibadan. The company which has dealers in the cities it operates hopes to cover more cities soon.
StarTimes Decoders
A StarTimes decoder usually comes along with a remote, a 10m outdoor antenna and a free one month Nova StarTimes package.
If the signal in your area is weak, you will need an outdoor antenna (sold separately) for better reception and a more enjoyable Startimes Subscription. The outdoor antenna can be gotten separately for 2,500 Naira.
Though the prices of decoders vary with time, information on current prices can always be gotten online. The current decoder prices are listed below;
- The SD decoder can be gotten at 6,600 Naira
- The HD decoder goes for 7600 Naira while
- The Combo decoder goes for 13,000 Naira
StarTimes Bouquets And Subscriptions
Currently, StarTimes offers customers four different bouquets namely: the Nova, Basic, Classic, and Unique bouquets offering over 33, 40, 60, and 80 channels respectively with varying monthly prices.
The Nova Bouquet
The NOVA bouquet which costs N800/month is the most affordable bouquet and it offers over 26 channels. The channels that come with this package include:
- AIT
- CCTV News
- Channels TV
- Child Smile
- Cool TV
- DOVE TV
- E-STARS
- Galaxy TV
- IQRAA
- LTV
- MITV
- NTA ENTERTAINMENT
- NTA Sports 24
- ORISUN
- REAL STAR
- Silverbird TV
- Star Dadin Kowa
- STAR KUNGFU
- Star Zone
- STV GUIDE
- TVC
- TVC News
- Wazobia TV
The Basic Bouquet
This is another affordable package which costs N1,200/month. It offers over 40 Channels which includes all the Nova bouquet channels plus the extra channels. The channels include:
- ALJAZEERA
- aMc
- AMC MOVIE
- AMC-Nigeria
- ANIMAUX
- BBC World News
- CORE TV NEWS
- Da Vinci Learning
- DTN
- eTV
- FARIN WATA
- MCS Extreme
- Nickelodeon
- Nigezie
- NTA ENTERTAINMENT
- STAR CHINESE 2
- STAR NOVELA E1
- STAR ONE
- TBN
- Wap TV
The Classic Bouquet
Classic bouquet which offers over 60 Channels at N2,400/month has all Basic bouquet channels plus the extra channels. They include:
- AIT
- AMC MOVIE
- AMC Series
- BET
- CCTV 4
- CCTV 9 Documentary
- CCTV News
- Channels TV
- Child Smile
- Cool TV
- Discovery Science
- DOVE TV
- E! Entertainment
- E-STARS
- Eurosport News
- Fine Living
- Fox News
- Fox Sports
- Galaxy TV
- GET TV
- IQRAA
- Iroko Play
- JIM JAM
- LTV
- MITV
- MTV Base
- Nature and History
- NBA TV
- NTA ENTERTAINMENT
- Nta Sports 24
- ORISUN
- POP
- QYou
- REAL STAR
- Silverbird TV
- Star Africa 2
- Star Bollywood TV
- Star Dadin kowa
- STAR KUNGFU
- Star Sport 2
- Star Zone
- STV GUIDE
- Tiwa’n’Tiwa
- TLC
- Trace Sport Stars
- TVC
- TVC News
- Wazobia TV
The Unique Bouquet
This is the highest priced StarTimes package which offers over 80 Channels at N4,800/month. It has all the Classic bouquet channels plus the extra channels as listed below.
- AMC MOVIE
- Baby TV
- BET
- Bloomberg Television
- Crime Explorer
- Fashion TV
- FOX
- Fox Sports 2
- FX
- iroko World
- MSNBC
- Nat Geo Gold
- QYou
- Star Gold
- Star Movies 1
- Star Plus
- Star Series E1
- True Movies 1
With over 100 channels, StarTimes which has continued to grow stronger and expand its footprint across the African markets says it is striving to be an international media giant with global influence.