astronomy

StarTimes

StarTimes is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand StarTimes rather than just read about it. In short: StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company based in Sub-Saharan Africa. StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcasters that are switching from analog to digital television.

Key takeaways

StarTimes belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect StarTimes to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of StarTimes from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

StarTimes is a Chinese electronics and media company based in Sub-Saharan Africa. StarTimes offers digital terrestrial television and satellite television services to consumers, and provides technologies to countries and broadcasters that are switching from analog to digital television. As of July 2020, StarTimes has distributors in 37 countries, serving 13 million DVB subscribers and 20 million OTT users.

History

StarTimes Group was founded in 1988 by Chinese engineer Pang Xinxing, who is also the company's current chairman. In 2002, StarTimes began to expand its business to Africa. In 2007, it became the first digital television operator licensed by Rwanda. As of 2020, StarTimes has established distributors in 37 countries. In 2009, StarTimes and the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation formed a joint venture to roll out digital migration. In the same year, it announced its expansion to other countries of the East African Community. The investments in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda combined were higher than Rwanda's. In February 2016, StarTimes was awarded a DTH license in Ivory Coast. Operations began in October 2016. On November 23, 2016, StarTimes was one of the three companies selected by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to establish and operate DTH distribution services in Pakistan for 15 years. But due to corruption and incompetency PEMRA delayed almost a decade to launch DTH in Pakistan, StarTimes withdrew application of launching DTH in Pakistan. On 2 September 2017, the Government of Chad and StarTimes signed an agreement on digital migration. After a lengthy process, StarTimes was chosen to build a Digital Terrestrial Television network that will include digitization of national infrastructures, television broadcast and reception. In 2018, StarTimes began to implement "Access to satellite TV for 10,000 African villages", a China-Africa cooperation project aimed at giving rural areas of Africa access to digital media. In 2017, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and StarTimes launched TopStar Communication Company Limited, a public signal distributor and Zambia's official digital migration agent, as a joint-venture. In June 2018, StarTimes launched ON, a video streaming service (OTT) giving access to dozens of channels in Africa. In 2020, StarTimes e-shopping platform, StarTimes GO was launched. This interactive online shopping platform is supported by TV, Online and Phone call services and available across Africa.

Seminar In 2011, StarTimes hosted the first African Digital TV Development Seminar, which has been held for seven consecutive years; it is a talking shop for African countries to discuss digital migration in Africa. The 8th edition of the Seminar held in Beijing in June 2018 had over 400 delegates, dignitaries, heads of broadcasting corporations and guests from 48 African and Asian countries.

Sports broadcasting In 2015, StarTimes signed an exclusive broadcasting contract with the Bundesliga for five years in all sub-Saharan countries, on its StarTimes Sports channels, becoming Bundesliga's partner in Africa. This resulted in StarTimes and DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga organizing the StarTimes-Bundesliga Legends Tour where Bundesliga players like Lothar Matthäus, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visit African countries every year. In December 2015, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh visited Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. In 2015, StarTimes obtained the rights to televise French Ligue 1 and Italian Serie A in Sub-Saharan countries. In July 2015, it signed a five-year broadcasting contract for the International Champions Cup (ICC). In June 2016, StarTimes also signed a three-year exclusive broadcasting contract with the Chinese Super League for Sub-Saharan Africa. In November 2016, StarTimes Group signed a media agreement with Ghana Football Association to promote the Ghana Premier League in Sub-Saharan Africa and the infrastructural development of the game in the West African country during the coming decade. In January 2020, one month after losing the franchise, StarTimes won the bid and was named as Television Rights Holder of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup. In April 2017, StarTimes secured media rights for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the other 2017-2018 FIFA events in all 42 territories of Sub-Saharan Africa (except for the World Cup 2018 and the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 in South Africa). StarTimes also signed a partnership with Ivoirian football club ASEC Mimosas. On 19 July 2017, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights in Sub-Saharan Africa for FIBA's national team competitions from 2017 to 2021, including the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. On 9 August 2018, StarTimes and Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) announced that StarTimes acquired both the naming and broadcast rights of the Uganda Premier League and FUFA Big League for a 10 years period. In September 2018, StarTimes launched a live telecast of UEFA Europa League. StarTimes will broadcast UEFA Europa League in all Sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It has been awarded exclusive rights for English, Portuguese and local languages in English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking areas until 2021. In November 2018, StarTimes acquired exclusive media rights to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana in Sub-Saharan Africa, ending in the 2020/2021 season. In August 2019, StarTimes announces it acquired UEFA National Team Football broadcasting rights between 2019 and 2022, including UEFA Euro 2020 as well as Qualifiers to Euro 2020, UEFA Nations League 2020/21 and European Qualifiers to 2022 FIFA World Cup. All national friendlies are also part of the contract. In early August 2020, StarTimes acquired Spanish top league LaLiga Santander broadcasting rights until 2024 across sub-Saharan Africa. Later the same year, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) unveiled StarTimes as their official broadcasting partners for the FKF Premier League, while the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) signed a tripartite broadcast sponsorship deal with ZNBC and TopStar (StarTimes) resulting in National Division One matches being shown live on TV. In January 2021, The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) officialized the signing of an agreement by which StarTimes obtains the broadcasting rights for the Total African Nations Championship, Cameroon 2020 (Total CHAN Cameroon 2020).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with StarTimes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what StarTimes claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to StarTimes before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about StarTimes ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of StarTimes

In research: StarTimes appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses StarTimes in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: StarTimes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Chinese companies established in 1988, Direct broadcast satellite services, Electronics companies established in 1988, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for StarTimes outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study StarTimes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what StarTimes means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain StarTimes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is StarTimes in simple terms?

Why does StarTimes matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study StarTimes?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on StarTimes.