Did this starter exist or is it a scam/joke?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLDfj4i7TJY

That video is 12 years old, the link in its description goes nowhere, so I don't know. I've never heard of it, anyway.

Here is an archive of the website: https://web.archive.org/web/20131126232859/http://smartstarter.eu/smart_idea.html
I don't see how it would work, as starters are normally open switches.

A programmable electronic starter, maybe..? 

Could it shut the lights off by closing, while also limiting current to only a trickle, preventing the lamp from lighting while using less power than an ordinary starter that had stuck closed?

It may work for T8, where the 230V is not enough to ignite the discharge even with hot electrodes, so it may quench the arc, as well as restrike it on demand.
I think it was doomed to failure from the getgo: Because at the time when the technology allows to integrate the wireless protocol into a starter body the magnetic ballasts fell out of use, so the only use was with upgrading existing installations. Not that much of market to justify the rather costly development.
This video seems to me just as a teaser, sensing whether it does make any commercial sense to actually develop such thing. And the result clearly was it does not, as we have not seen any such product...

It was better/cheaper to use an electronic ballast instead of this