Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, radio and television channels and services to subscribers, mostly in South Africa and Nigeria. DStv formerly had operations in Thailand under United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), which is now TrueVisions. History In 1986, pay-television came to South Africa when 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 which was effective to this day. Not long after, 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, the debut television channels included M-Net, MGM, TNT, Sci-Fi Universal, SuperSport, ESPN, Cartoon Network, BBC World News, CNN International and Sky News. 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. 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, Interactive Television in 2002, the Dual-view decoder in 2003, and the DStv PVR decoder and the DStv Compact subscription package bundle in 2005. The year 2008 saw the introduction of the HD PVR decoder, the XtraView decoder and 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 2022, Canal+ retains a 20.1% stake on DStv. Channels and