WE welcome StarSat Digital Television on the Zambian market, especially that the country, currently, has a  limited choice of entertainment among the dominant few.
Recently, Starsat  partnered with StarTimes Group of China to provide affordable digital television services for the majority Zambian viewers.
Affordable as in the sense that, with K39, one would be able to watch 27 television channels and 25 audio music stations, 60 television channels, 25 audio music at K99, while  K199 will allow for 91 television channels with 25 audio music.
Now, that is affordable indeed considering that the available pay television providers demand for more subscriptions than that.
Like other pay television names, StarTimes is a pay television company that has been operating all over Africa, therefore, they must have done extensive research to arrive at the choice of their bouquets, pricing and content.
Not to be left out on this package are viewers of Asian origin like India and China domiciled in this country that will have channels in their dialect at as low as K75 and K150 respectively.
The fact that Starsat will quote their services in Zambian Kwacha means that local subscibers will not have to be inconvenienced each time international currencies fluctuated.
Like it has been said before, Zambia is one country where business is not only liberalised, but a conducive platform for competition as well.
We have seen the proliferation of private and community radio stations almost in each district, a move that provides alternatives to the state broadcaster.
Like the radio industry, Starsat has a stage as wide as the entire nation of over millions of viewers who have been yearning for something new.
We cannot doubt them because Zambia has become the 29th country in Africa where this service will be offered.
Zambian viewers will take StarSat chairperson John Kalenga’s word who assured that the company was widely represented by its distributors, meaning that their product will be easily accessed.
Apart from this move being a timely package in the wake of the biting economy, with bouquets at as low as K39, such is a charge many can afford.
We take Mr Kalenga’s assurance that StarTimes will truly be committed to realising a vision and strategy of affordable and excellent content.
Starsat’s  entrance also provides a challenge to young entrepreneurial Zambians to seize this opportunity and become dealers.
We urge Starsat to consistently build on their services as outlined and respond to the specific needs of would be subscribers, stimulate the television market to greater levels of informative, educational and entertaining programming.
Zambian viewers have been restricted to some content that fall below the norms of Journalism in pictures and news bulletins.
With more than 100 channels that Starsat will be offering, subscribers would look forward to a wide and enriching variety of content in news, movies, sports, entertainment, music and documentaries, all at affordable prices.
Zambian viewers have for a long time been looking for a new pay television company to offer its competitors a run for their money by providing affordable digital entertainment.
Already, the Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA), a body that speaks for local consumers has welcomed the new pay television.
With Starsat’s low pricing, they seem to have answered ZACA’s demand to peg its subscription fees in local currency, the Kwacha.
What excites ZACA more is the fact that Starsat is an option for digital television channel service provider in Zambia to help lower  the prices of subscription.
It is in this vein that we urge Starsat that Zambians have great expectations in them and believe that they will live up to the expectation and the  same force they have entered the market with.