TopTV will soon part ways with one of the major retail chains that supplies the public with its decoders, SA’s second pay-television operator confirmed.

According to Marius Liebenberg, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for TopTV, a “mutual” decision was taken between the operator and Pep Stores to stop selling the devices within Pep’s over 1 000 stores nationwide, as of 1 October.

Pep has stocked the devices, currently retailing at R399, including installation, since the pay-TV provider’s inception in May 2010. TopTV did not give a reason for the “mutual decision”, but says: “[TopTV’s] decoders are available in a wide range of the major retailers throughout SA, with whom the company has established good working partnerships over the past two years.”

TopTV’s parent company, On Digital Media (ODM), introduced the pay-TV platform a little over two years ago to address the lower-income market in a bid to increase satellite TV penetration in SA.

While losing Pep – one of SA’s most prolifi c low-cost retail chains – as one of its decoder distribution channels would appear to be a loss for the company and signal poor sales, Liebenberg says there has been a “positive upward trend” of TopTV decoders. “[Sales have shown positive growth] over the past three months specifically.”