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78-524: Digital Satellite Television , abbreviated DStv , is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in South Africa , with headquarters in Randburg . DStv provides audio , radio and television channels and services to subscribers across 50 countries, mostly in South Africa , Nigeria and Zimbabwe . In 1986, pay-television came to South Africa when

156-525: A mobile app for mobile phone and tablet devices, along with PC to control DVRs and parental controls and allow access to recorded content and video on demand services. The app was previously known as DStv Mobile until 2016 and DStv Now until 2020, with the app called DStv Stream as of 2023. In May 2017, DStv admitted to price fixing and contravening the Competition Act and agreed to pay R22 million in penalties as well as R8 million to

234-482: A Bantu language with many Arabic , Persian and other Middle Eastern and South Asian loan words , developed as a lingua franca for trade between the different peoples in southeastern Africa. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from " Hottentots ") have long been present. The San evince unique physical traits, and are

312-410: A Business June 2008 through May 2009) , PFI (Press Freedom Index 2009) Sub-Saharan Africa contains over 1,500 languages. With the exception of the extinct Sumerian (a language isolate ) of Mesopotamia , Afroasiatic has the oldest documented history of any language family in the world. Egyptian was recorded as early as 3200 BCE. The Semitic branch was recorded as early as 2900 BCE in

390-415: A digital satellite service in South Africa was announced by MultiChoice and was launched that same year on 6 October 1995 as DStv , an abbreviation for Digital Satellite Television . On its launch, DStv offered a package of 16 channels: Cartoon Network , CNN , a 40-channel DMX audio service, ESPN , Hallmark, K-T.V. , M-Net , Movie Magic , SelecTV , Sky News , SuperSport , TNT , Travel Channel,

468-399: A dry winter season and a wet summer season. According to paleontology , early hominid skull anatomy was similar to that of their close cousins, the great African forest apes , gorilla and chimpanzee . However, they had adopted a bipedal locomotion and freed hands, giving them a crucial advantage enabling them to live in both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa

546-600: A movie and general entertainment channel geared at showcasing Nollywood talent and African culture. At the time of its launch it received high popularity amongst DStv subscribers, especially in South Africa and Nigeria. This was followed by the launch of new services including: W4 Eutelsat satellite with Ku-band services to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands in 2000 (which Multichoice bought five transponders), Interactive Television in 2002,

624-517: A personal computer or mobile application. Chat Television, developed in 1996, was the first example of a second screen interactive TV format. The system synchronized online services with television broadcasts, grouping users by time zone and program, so that all real-time viewers could participate in a chat or interactive gathering during the show's airing. Interactive TV features in smart TVs have drawn criticism because they allow TV manufacturers to collect and transmit data about customer behavior for

702-550: A single-channel analogue service, M-Net , was launched by Naspers and local businesses/companies. For almost seven years, all of M-Net's operations were handled by a single dedicated company until 1995 when a second subsidiary company, MultiChoice , was launched. This company would take over the operations of M-Net including decoder sales, subscriber services (which were also available in local shops) and account management. MultiChoice would also embark on establishing presence in multiple countries outside South Africa. Not long after,

780-668: A spiritual religious guardian. This imperial cult or system of divine kings was spread to most of central Africa by rivals in kingship migrating and forming new states. Many new states received legitimacy by claiming descent from the Lunda dynasties. The Kingdom of Kongo existed from the Atlantic west to the Kwango river to the east. During the 15th century, the Bakongo farming community was united with its capital at M'banza-Kongo , under

858-579: Is located on the Swahili coast . Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa . It is the provincial capital and largest city in Gauteng , which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities , it is the seat of the Constitutional Court . The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills, and is

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936-482: Is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, and also one of the most populous urban agglomerations . Lagos is a major financial centre in Africa; this megacity has the highest GDP, and also houses Apapa , one of the largest and busiest ports on the continent. Dar es Salaam is the former capital of, as well as the most populous city in, Tanzania ; it is a regionally important economic centre. It

1014-663: Is thought that the camel was first brought to Egypt after the Persian Empire conquered Egypt in 525 BCE, although large herds did not become common enough in North Africa for camels to be the pack animal of choice for the trans-saharan trade. The Bantu expansion is a major migration movement that originated in West Central Africa (possibly around Cameroon) around 2500 BCE, reaching East and Central Africa by 1000 BCE and Southern Africa by

1092-507: The 2012 Australian Open , viewers used the app to suggest questions for commentator Jim Courier to ask players in post-match interviews. "One-screen" formats involve interaction on the TV screen, using the remote control. Remote-control user interfaces are known in human-computer interaction research as "lean back" interaction, and as a 10-foot user interface . Second screen interactive TV, also called Enhanced TV by ABC and ESPN , uses

1170-659: The Bantu expansion . In Southern Africa, their speakers are the Khoikhoi and San (Bushmen), in Southeast Africa, the Sandawe and Hadza . The Niger–Congo family is the largest in the world in terms of the number of languages (1,436) it contains. The vast majority of languages of this family are tonal , such as Yoruba and Igbo . However, others such as Fulani , Wolof and Kiswahili are not. A major branch of

1248-777: The Dutch East India Company . For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, the slowly expanding settlement was a Dutch possession. In 1795, the Dutch colony was captured by the British during the French Revolutionary Wars . The British intended to use Cape Town as a major port on the route to Australia and India . It was later returned to the Dutch in 1803, but soon afterward the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy, and

1326-726: The Ethiopian Empire , and the Geledi Sultanate , whose military dominance forced governors of the Omani empire north of the city of Lamu to pay tribute to the Somali Sultan Ahmed Yusuf . According to the theory of recent African origin of modern humans , the mainstream position held within the scientific community, all humans originate from either Southeast Africa or the Horn of Africa. During

1404-464: The H. erectus species. The fossil and genetic evidence shows Homo sapiens developed in Southern and East Africa by around 350,000 to 260,000 years ago and gradually migrated across the continent in waves. Between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, their expansion out of Africa launched the colonisation of the planet by modern humans. By 10,000 BCE, Homo sapiens had spread to all corners of

1482-594: The Mali Empire , Songhai Empire , the Kanem Empire and the subsequent Bornu Empire . They built stone structures like in Tichit , but mainly constructed in adobe . The Great Mosque of Djenne is most reflective of Sahelian architecture and is the largest adobe building in the world. In the forest zone, several states and empires such as Bono State , Akwamu and others emerged. The Ashanti Empire arose in

1560-674: The Sabaeans , Parthians and Axumites for the wealthy Indo – Greco – Roman trade. In the Middle Ages several powerful Somali empires dominated the region's trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate , which excelled in hydraulic engineering and fortress building, the Sultanate of Adal , whose General Ahmed Gurey was the first African commander in history to use cannon warfare on the continent during Adal's conquest of

1638-662: The Songhai , Zarma and Kanuri . The Old Nubian language is also a member of this family. Major languages of Africa by region, family and number of primary language speakers in millions: Sub-Saharan Africa has several large cities. Lagos is a city in the Nigerian state of Lagos . The city, with its adjoining conurbation , is the most populous in Nigeria , and the second-most populous in Africa after Cairo , Egypt . It

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1716-654: The Trinity Broadcasting Network , TV5 Afrique and VH1. This prompted changes to the main M-Net channel, which, while having its formula unchanged, started concentrating more on African productions, while K-T.V., Movie Magic and SuperSport gained their own separate channels. Aside from the DMX service, subscribers also had access to Radio 702 and Voice of America . Multichoice expected the number of channels to be increased to 24 by early 1996. The launch of DStv

1794-644: The UN Development Programme applies the "sub-Saharan" classification to 46 of Africa's 55 countries, excluding Djibouti, SADR , Somalia, and Sudan. Since around 3900 BCE , the Saharan and sub-Saharan regions of Africa have been separated by the extremely harsh climate of the sparsely populated Sahara, forming an effective barrier that is interrupted only by the Nile in Sudan, though navigation on

1872-775: The Walls of Benin , which is the largest man-made structure in the world. In the 18th century, the Oyo and the Aro confederacy were responsible for most of the slaves exported from modern-day Nigeria, selling them to European slave traders . Following the Napoleonic Wars , the British expanded their influence into the Nigerian interior. In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition, and in

1950-629: The medieval period used the general term bilâd as-sûdân ("Land of the Blacks") for the vast Sudan region (an expression denoting Central and West Africa ), or sometimes extending from the coast of West Africa to Western Sudan . Its equivalent in Southeast Africa was Zanj ("Country of the Blacks"), which was situated in the vicinity of the Great Lakes region. The geographers drew an explicit ethnographic distinction between

2028-601: The 14th and 15th centuries, large medieval Southeast African kingdoms and states emerged, such as the Buganda , Bunyoro and Karagwe kingdoms of Uganda and Tanzania. During the early 1960s, the Southeast African nations achieved independence from colonial rule. Settlements of Bantu -speaking peoples, who were iron -using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River by

2106-589: The 18th century in modern-day Ghana . The Kingdom of Nri , was established by the Igbo in the 11th century. Nri was famous for having a priest-king who wielded no military power. Nri was a rare African state which was a haven for freed slaves and outcasts who sought refuge in their territory. Other major states included the kingdoms of Ifẹ and Oyo in the western block of Nigeria which became prominent about 700–900 and 1400 respectively, and center of Yoruba culture. The Yoruba built massive mud walls around their cities,

2184-531: The 1950s and early 1960s, most sub-Saharan African nations achieved independence from colonial rule. According to the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects , the population of sub-Saharan Africa was 1.1 billion in 2019. The current growth rate is 2.3%. The UN predicts for the region a population between 2 and 2.5 billion by 2050 with a population density of 80 per km compared to 170 for Western Europe, 140 for Asia and 30 for

2262-576: The 1950s, there were limited efforts to provide an illusion of interactive experience, most overtly with Winky Dink and You , which encouraged viewers to draw on a vinyl sheet they would attach to a television set. QUBE operated an interactive cable television service in Ohio from 1977 to 1984. An interactive video-on-demand (VOD) television service was proposed in 1986 in Japan, where there were plans to develop an "Integrated Network System" service. It

2340-536: The 4th or 5th century displacing and absorbing the original Khoisan speakers. They slowly moved south, and the earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people , whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoisan inhabitants. They reached the Fish River in today's Eastern Cape Province . Monomotapa

2418-776: The Americas. Sub-Saharan African countries top the list of countries and territories by fertility rate with 40 of the highest 50, all with TFR greater than 4 in 2008. All are above the world average except South Africa and Seychelles . More than 40% of the population in sub-Saharan countries is younger than 15 years old, as well as in Sudan , with the exception of South Africa. GDP per Capita (PPP) (2016, 2017 (PPP, US$ )) , Life (Exp.) (Life Expectancy 2006) , Literacy (Male/Female 2006) , Trans (Transparency 2009) , HDI (Human Development Index) , EODBR (Ease of Doing Business Rank June 2008 through May 2009) , SAB ( Starting

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2496-800: The Dual-view decoder in 2003, and the DStv PVR decoder and the DStv Compact subscription package bundle in 2005. Thanks to the new contract with Eutelsat, DStv vastly improved its channel offer by starting Ku-band signals in West Africa, as well as the inclusion of new Lusophone channels in Angola and Mozambique ( RTP Internacional - already in South Africa up until then, SIC Internacional and TV Globo Internacional ), three channels from India (Sony Entertainment Television India, B4U and Zee TV) and

2574-527: The Dutch (now under French control) and the British found themselves at war again. The British captured the Dutch possession yet again at the Battle of Blaauwberg , commanded by Sir David Blair . The Zulu Kingdom was a Southern African tribal state in what is now KwaZulu-Natal in southeastern South Africa. The small kingdom gained world fame during and after their defeat in the Anglo-Zulu War . During

2652-674: The Eastern Baribah or Barbaroi , as the ancestors of the Somalis were referred to by medieval Arab and ancient Greek geographers, respectively. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the populations south of the Sahara were divided into three broad ancestral groups: Hamites and Semites in the Horn of Africa and Sahel related to those in North Africa, who spoke languages belonging to the Afroasiatic family; Negroes in most of

2730-646: The Economic Development Fund of South Africa. More than 400,000 television service subscribers. Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa or Subsahara is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara . These include Central Africa , East Africa , Southern Africa , and West Africa . Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region,

2808-572: The Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea). The Chadic branch is distributed in Central and West Africa. Hausa , its most widely spoken language, serves as a lingua franca in West Africa (Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad). The several families lumped under the term Khoi-San include languages indigenous to Southern Africa and Tanzania , though some, such as the Khoi languages , appear to have moved to their current locations not long before

2886-651: The Mediterranean. Growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period ( c. 4th century BCE), it rose to prominence by the 1st century CE. The Aksumites constructed monolithic stelae to cover the graves of their kings, such as King Ezana's Stele . The later Zagwe dynasty , established in the 12th century, built churches out of solid rock. These rock-hewn structures include the Church of St. George at Lalibela . In ancient Somalia , city-states flourished such as Opone , Mosyllon and Malao that competed with

2964-543: The Niger–Congo languages is Bantu , which covers a greater geographic area than the rest of the family. Bantu speakers represent the majority of inhabitants in southern, central and southeastern Africa, though San , Pygmy , and Nilotic groups, respectively, can also be found in those regions. Bantu-speakers can also be found in parts of Central Africa such as the Gabon , Equatorial Guinea and southern Cameroon . Swahili ,

3042-633: The Nile was blocked by the Sudd and the river's cataracts . There is also an evident genetic divide between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa that dates back to the Neolithic . The Sahara pump theory explains how flora and fauna (including Homo sapiens ) left Africa to penetrate Eurasia and beyond. African pluvial periods are associated with a " Wet Sahara " phase, during which larger lakes and more rivers existed. Geographers historically divided

3120-698: The Sahel (northern Mauritania, northern Mali, northern Niger). The Cushitic branch of Afroasiatic is centered in the Horn, and is also spoken in the Nile Valley and parts of the African Great Lakes region. Additionally, the Semitic branch of the family, in the form of Arabic , is widely spoken in the parts of Africa that are within the Arab world. South Semitic languages are also spoken in parts of

3198-596: The South African market. These channels featured games, news, weather, and soon, the possibility of accessing internet services, banking, video-on-demand and camera angles during key sporting events. Over the 2 decades since then till today, television channels launch on the platform when channel carriage contracts are signed and/or renewed between MultiChoice and another media conglomerate / broadcaster and ceases transmission when channel carriage contracts are not renewed. In July 2003, DSTV launched Africa Magic as

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3276-413: The Southeast coast of Kenya and Tanzania encountered by these later Arab and Persian settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements of Rhapta , Azania and Menouthias referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from 50 CE to 500 CE. These early writings perhaps document the first wave of Bantu settlers to reach Southeast Africa during their migration. Between

3354-399: The Sudan region and its analogue Zanj, from the area to their extreme east on the Red Sea coast in the Horn of Africa . In modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea was Al-Habash or Abyssinia, which was inhabited by the Habash or Abyssinians, who were the forebears of the Habesha . In northern Somalia was Barbara or the Bilad al-Barbar ("Land of the Berbers "), which was inhabited by

3432-436: The United Kingdom. It used the DCT-based MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video compression standards, along with ADSL technology. Sega Channel , a service that allowed Sega Genesis owners to download video games on demand via cable television signals, began rolling out in the United States in 1994 and was discontinued in 1998. It has been described as a form of interactive television. The first patent of interactive connected TV

3510-421: The application of animal husbandry towards carrying water, food, and supplies across the desert. Prior to the introduction of the camel , the use of oxen, mule, and horses for desert crossing was common, and trade routes followed chains of oases that were strung across the desert. The trans-saharan trade was in full motion by 500 BCE with Carthage being a major economic force for its establishment. It

3588-411: The art of making fire. They were the first hominids to leave Africa, going on to colonise the entire Old World , and perhaps later on giving rise to Homo floresiensis . Although some recent writers suggest that H. georgicus , a H. habilis descendant , was the first and most primitive hominid to ever live outside Africa, many scientists consider H. georgicus to be an early and primitive member of

3666-476: The carcasses of animals killed by other predators, both for their meat and their marrow. In hunting, H. habilis was most likely not capable of competing with large predators and was more prey than hunter, although H. habilis likely did steal eggs from nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey such as cubs and older animals. The tools were classed as Oldowan . Roughly 1.8 million years ago, Homo ergaster first appeared in

3744-458: The centre of a large-scale gold and diamond trade. Nairobi is the capital and the largest city of Kenya . The name comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyrobi , which translates to "cool water", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city is popularly referred to as the Green City in the Sun. Interactive Television Prior to the development of interactive television, interaction could only be simulated. In

3822-554: The continent—grouping them into five distinct and standard regions. The term serves as a grouping counterpart to North Africa , which is instead grouped with the definition of MENA (i.e. Middle East and North Africa) as it is part of the Arab world , and most North African states are likewise members of the Arab League . However, while they are also member states of the Arab League , the Comoros , Djibouti , Mauritania , and Somalia (and sometimes Sudan ) are all geographically considered to be part of sub-Saharan Africa. Overall,

3900-410: The early centuries CE. The Djenné-Djenno city-state flourished from 250 BCE to 900 CE and was influential to the development of the Ghana Empire . The Nok culture of Nigeria (lasting from 1,500 BCE to 200 CE) is known from a type of terracotta figure. There were a number of medieval empires of the southern Sahara and the Sahel, based on trans-Saharan trade , including the Ghana Empire and

3978-507: The first millennium BCE. Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies, leading to the early civilisations of Sao , Kanem , Bornu , Shilluk , Baguirmi , and Wadai . Following the Bantu Migration into Central Africa, during the 14th century, the Luba Kingdom in southeast Congo came about under a king whose political authority derived from religious, spiritual legitimacy. The kingdom controlled agriculture and regional trade of salt and iron from

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4056-534: The first millennium CE, Nilotic and Bantu -speaking peoples moved into the region , and the latter now account for three-quarters of Kenya's population. On the coastal section of Southeast Africa, a mixed Bantu community developed through contact with Muslim Arab and Persian traders, leading to the development of the mixed Arab, Persian and African Swahili City States . The Swahili culture that emerged from these exchanges evinces many Arab and Islamic influences not seen in traditional Bantu culture, as do

4134-441: The following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Goldie . In 1900, the company's territory came under the control of the British government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On 1 January 1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate as part of the British Empire , the foremost world power at the time. Nigeria was granted its independence in 1960 during

4212-418: The form of the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia ( Assyria and Babylonia ) and circa 2500 BCE in the form of the Eblaite language of northeastern Syria . The distribution of the Afroasiatic languages within Africa is principally concentrated in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Languages belonging to the family's Berber branch are mainly spoken in the north, with its speech area extending into

4290-451: The fossil record in Africa. From Homo ergaster , Homo erectus (upright man) evolved 1.5 million years ago. Some of the earlier representatives of this species were small-brained and used primitive stone tools , much like H. habilis . The brain later grew in size, and H. erectus eventually developed a more complex stone tool technology called the Acheulean . Potentially the first hominid to engage in hunting, H. erectus mastered

4368-514: The high definition feed of the M-Net channel. In 2010, DVB over IP (Digital Video Broadcast over Internet Protocol) and DStv Catchup services were launched, as well as the HD PVR 2P decoder same year and M-Net Movies 1 got simulcast in high definition for the first time. DStv BoxOffice (a film/movie rental/on-demand service) and DStv Mobile were launched in 2011. Since 2012, DStv has also been re-broadcast on Saint Helena , but with only 30 selected channels. As of 2024, Canal+ retains over 40% of

4446-419: The indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of Central Africa. The Nilo-Saharan languages are concentrated in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers of Central Africa and Southeast Africa. They are principally spoken by Nilotic peoples and are also spoken in Sudan among the Fur , Masalit , Nubian and Zaghawa peoples and in West and Central Africa among

4524-460: The king title, Manikongo . Other significant states and peoples included the Kuba Kingdom , producers of the famous raffia cloth, the Eastern Lunda , Bemba , Burundi , Rwanda , and the Kingdom of Ndongo . Nubia , covered by present-day northern Sudan and southern Egypt , was referred to as " Aethiopia " ("land of the burnt face") by the Greeks . Nubia in her greatest phase is considered sub-Saharan Africa's oldest urban civilisation. Nubia

4602-400: The many Afro-Arab members of the Bantu Swahili people . With its original speech community centered on the coastal parts of Tanzania (particularly Zanzibar ) and Kenya  – a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast  – the Bantu Swahili language contains many Arabic loan-words as a consequence of these interactions. The earliest Bantu inhabitants of

4680-453: The most famous being Sungbo's Eredo . Another prominent kingdom in southwestern Nigeria was the Kingdom of Benin , whose power lasted between the 15th and 19th century. Their dominance reached as far as the well-known city of Eko which was named Lagos by the Portuguese traders and other early European settlers. The Edo -speaking people of Benin are known for their famous bronze casting and rich coral, wealth, ancient science and technology and

4758-425: The north and copper from the Zambian/Congo copper belt. Rival kingship factions which split from the Luba Kingdom later moved among the Lunda people, marrying into its elite and laying the foundation of the Lunda Empire in the 16th century. The ruling dynasty centralised authority among the Lunda under the Mwata Yamyo or Mwaant Yaav. The Mwata Yamyo's legitimacy, like that of the Luba king, came from being viewed as

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4836-423: The number skyrocketed to 215,000 in Subsaharan Africa and 31,000 in Egypt and the Middle East. With the launch of BBC Prime in March 1999, it had risen to nearly 350,000, an increase of 30% within the past ten months. This also coincided with the arrival of National Geographic Channel and the South African business network Summit. Interactive services started in 2000 with six datacasting channels aimed primarily at

4914-499: The pay-TV service. Additionally, the company faces growing competition from streaming services and changing consumer viewing habits, which continue to pressure its traditional pay-TV model. However, MultiChoice is taking steps to address these challenges. The company has invested ZAR1.6 billion in its streaming service, Showmax, which has shown impressive growth of 50% year-over-year. DStv airs more than 200 television channels and radio stations. The list of channels differ and vary across

4992-532: The pay-tv company with them seeking to acquire remaining shares as dictated by law. Multichoice Nigeria has faced significant challenges. The company lost 243,000 subscribers across its DStv and GOtv platforms between April and September 2024, primarily due to Nigeria's severe economic conditions, including inflation exceeding 30%. This decline is part of a larger trend, with an 18% drop in subscribers in Nigeria reported earlier in March 2024. The economic pressures have forced many Nigerian households to disconnect from

5070-507: The period of decoloniszation . Archeological finds in Central Africa provide evidence of human settlement that may date back over 10,000 years. According to Zangato and Holl, there is evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3,000 to 2,500 BCE. Extensive walled sites and settlements have recently been found in Zilum , Chad. The area is located approximately 60 km (37 mi) southwest of Lake Chad, and has been radiocarbon dated to

5148-422: The possibility of adding Arab and Lebanese channels in West Africa. The interactive services were provided by American company OpenTV and launched in the first half of 2002. SuperSport had already started an interactive service, SuperSport Zone, in May 2001. By March 2002, the roll-out was completed, by means of a new decoder, 720i. The year 2008 saw the introduction of the HD PVR decoder, the XtraView decoder and

5226-508: The region into several distinct ethnographic sections based on each area's respective inhabitants. The concept has been criticised as a racist construction intended to separate North Africa or "European/White Africa" and "Black Africa" or "Africa noire". Critics from various countries have provided arguments supporting the interconnectedness of continental Africa, pointing to historical and cultural connections, as well as trade between North, West, and East Africa . Commentators in Arabic in

5304-584: The regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. There are five or six bouquets/packages, each with a different price range, and four add-on packages for premium film and series channels, Indian, Portuguese, French channels. Most current-day DStv decoders also offer access to MultiChoice's streaming platform, Showmax , along with other third-party apps through broadband connection and/or Wi-Fi connection. DStv has their set-top boxes manufactured by domestic company, Altech UEC, along with Arris International (for South Africa only) and Chinese electronics company, Skyworth , for

5382-411: The rest of the continent. The choice of boxes include a standard box with "XtraView" capabilities, an older personal video recorder , and the then-newest PVR box known as the Explora. An additional decoder known as the currently-discontinued Drifta allows the conversion of a DStv DVB-H signal to another digital device such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone for portable in-home viewing. DStv also offers

5460-464: The rest of the subcontinent (hence, the toponym Black Africa for Africa south of the Sahara ), who spoke languages belonging to the Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan families; and Khoisan in Southern Africa , who spoke languages belonging to the Khoisan family. Sub-Saharan Africa has a wide variety of climate zones or biomes . South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular are considered megadiverse countries . It has

5538-455: The term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN). This is considered a non-standardised geographical region with the number of countries included varying from 46 to 48 depending on the organisation describing the region (e.g. UN , WHO , World Bank , etc.). The African Union (AU) uses a different regional breakdown, recognising all 55 member states on

5616-513: The world. This dispersal of the human species is suggested by linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence. During the 11th millennium BP , pottery was independently invented in West Africa, with the earliest pottery there dating to about 9,400 BC from central Mali. It spread throughout the Sahel and southern Sahara . After the Sahara became a desert, it did not present a totally impenetrable barrier for travelers between north and south because of

5694-477: Was a major source of gold for the ancient world. Nubians built famous structures and numerous pyramids. Sudan, the site of ancient Nubia, has more pyramids than anywhere else in the world. The Axumite Empire spanned the southern Sahara, south Arabia and the Sahel along the western shore of the Red Sea . Located in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea , Aksum was deeply involved in the trade network between India and

5772-536: Was a medieval kingdom (c. 1250–1629), which existed between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers of Southern Africa in the territory of modern-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique . Its old capital was located at Great Zimbabwe . In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost tip of Africa. In 1652, a victualling station was established at the Cape of Good Hope by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of

5850-421: Was deemed "satisfactory", with decoder sales having surpassed 10,000 units by November 1995. Within weeks of its launch, DStv added its first new channels, Discovery Channel and BBC World . The latter was available over the terrestrial frequencies of M-Net eleven hours a day; this enabled subscribers to watch the channel 24/7. In February 1998, DStv had 70,000 subscribers across the continent. By June that year,

5928-441: Was drying up, with savanna encroaching on forested areas. This occurred 10 million to 5 million years ago. By 3 million years ago several australopithecine hominid species had developed throughout Southern , East , and Central Africa . They were tool users rather than tool manufacturers. The next major evolutionary step occurred around 2.3 million BCE, when primitive stone tools were used to scavenge

6006-625: Was granted in 1999 in the United States; it expired in 2015. ATSC 3.0 , also known as "NextGen TV", adds interactivity features to terrestrial television . As of April 2022, broadcasters in 60 media markets in the United States were using ATSC 3.0. Interactive TV includes programs that directly incorporate polls, questions, comments, and other forms of audience response back into the show. For example, Australian media producer Yahoo!7 's Fango mobile app allows viewers to provide material that producers can insert into live programming. During

6084-439: Was intended to include various interactive services, including videotelephony , home shopping , online banking , remote work , and home entertainment services. However, it was not possible to practically implement such an interactive VOD service until the adoption of DCT and ADSL technologies made it possible in the 1990s. In early 1994, British Telecommunications (BT) began testing an interactive VOD television trial service in

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