Astro (company)

Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Broadcasting, Mass Media
Founded	29 September 1996 (1996-09-29)
Founder	Ananda Krishnan
Headquarters	AABC, Lebuhraya Puchong-Sg. Besi, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Area served	Malaysia Brunei Singapore Philippines (upcoming)
Key people	Zaki Azmi (Chairman) Henry Tan Poh Hock, CEO
Products	Direct broadcast satellite Mobile TV Internet TV
Revenue	RM5.613 million (Q1 2017).
Operating income	RM777.71 million (2014)
Net income	RM447.95 million (2014)
Parent	Astro All Asia Networks plc
Subsidiaries	NJOI
Website	www.astro.com.my

All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator, doing business as Astro, is a Malaysian satellite television provider. It operates in Malaysia and Brunei and has operations at the All Asia Broadcast Centre located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, and MEASAT in Cyberjaya. It was granted an exclusive license as a sole pay-television provider by the Malaysian federal government until 2017. It competes with Unifi TV, an IPTV service owned by Telekom Malaysia (TM). As of September 2014, Astro has four million subscribers.

Astro is a wholly owned subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks plc and operated by MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn. Bhd.

History

On 29 September 1996, Astro was officially launched as "Philips ASTRO", with twenty-two television channels and five radio channels available.

Channel	Name	Language	Owner	Group	Type
Television
1	TV1	Malay and English	RTM	Free-to-air	Terrestrial
2	TV2	Malay, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil and Hindustani
3	Astro Ria	Malay	Astro	Astro channels	In house
4	Astro Wah Lai Toi	Chinese (Cantonese)
5	Astro Vaanavil	Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and Hindustani
6	CNN International News	English	CNN	News	International
7	CNBC		NBCUniversal
8	Asia Business News		Dow Jones & Company
9	Discovery Channel	English (Malay subtitle)	Discovery Communications	Education
10	NBC Asia		NBCUniversal	Entertainment
11	ESPN	English	ESPN	Sports
12	STAR Sports		STAR TV
13	HBO	English (Malay subtitle)	HBO	Movies
14	STAR Movies		STAR TV
15	STAR Asian Movies	Chinese (Cantonese) (Chinese and English subtitle)
16	MGM Gold	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	English (Malay subtitle)
17	TNT & Cartoon Network	Cartoon Network		Animated, Entertainment and Movies
18	Disney Channel	Disney Channel		Animated
19	STAR Plus	STAR TV		Entertainment
20	Channel [V]
21	MTV	MTV Networks
22	NHK	Japanese and English	NHK
Radio
41	HITZ FM	English	Astro	Top 40 (CHR)	Music
42	Classic Rock			Classic rock
43	Light & Easy			Easy listening and Light
44	MIX fm			Adult contemporary
45	TalkRadio			Talk radio

In September 2003, Astro Box Office was officially launched as a pay-per-view channel showcasing Southeast Asianmovies, games, other sports events. Astro launches exclusive first-run blockbuster movies from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and 24/7 channel, Celestial Movies Asia. It officially introduced a new look, and the logo was formally launched, changed to the lowercase astro, and officially introduced a new slogan, motto, and tagline, Making your life richer.

On 1 November 2006, Astro News was co-produced with Bernama's national news agency, with the former taking twelve minutes of the programme for general. The news is also translated into Chinese on Astro AEC, Malay on Astro Ria, and Tamil on Astro Vaanavil.

On 1 January 2007, Bernama took over the full half-hour production pending a revamp of the internal news team at Astro, in which Astro Awani was launched on 6 September 2007.

On 1 April 2007, Astro added another nine satellite television channels into its line-up. The nine announced channels were Jia Yu Channel, Discovery Science, Discovery Real Time, Discovery Home & Health, E! Entertainment, Astro Vellithirai, Sun Music, Eurosport, and The Golf Channel.

The three satellite television channels were already added into Astro's line-up on 24 April 2007.

The six satellite television channels became available from 1 May 2007 onward.

The 2-satellite television channels such: The History Channel and the Crime & Investigation Network joined the Astro platform on 1 June 2007.

On 1 June 2007, Astro introduced Astro On Demand, a new near-video on-demand channel featuring the latest TVBdramas from Hong Kong.

On 1 July 2007 onward, Astro On Demand Preview was launched, and it is entirely devoted to telling the Astro subscribers about this new channel. A total of thirty-one satellite television channels have been allocated for this new service.

On 13 October 2007, Astro added seven satellite television channels into its repertoire, including the Asian Food Channel, Astro Hua Hee Dai, Astro Oasis, Astro Xiao Tai Yang, Chutti TV, KBS World, and Makkal TV. This addition increased the number of eight hundred-three satellite television channels on Astro.

On 1 December 2007, Australia Network started transmission on the Astro platform.

On 1 January 2008, Bernama TV, Bernama's 24-hour news channel, started transmission on the Astro platform.

On 1 May 2009, Astro launched the Mustika Pack, which is a new pay television package comprising three new channels named Astro Citra, Astro Warna, and B4U. Astro Warna offers comedy, while Astro Citra is the Malay version of the HBO Asia channel, providing Southeast Asian blockbuster movies, Malay premieres, Malay epic series, and B4U provided latest box-office Bollywood movies and music with Malay subtitles. Astro Bella, however, replaced B4U in early 2012.

Astro then launched another sports channel, Astro SuperSport 2, on 1 November 2009.

On 23 November 2009, Astro started transmission of the first high-definition channels in Malaysia, Astro SuperSport HD, HBO HD, National Geographic Channel HD, and HISTORY HD, followed by ESPN HD 11 January 2010.

Granada TV was added to the Astro platform on 1 December 2009, featuring many of the United Kingdom's best shows. Granada TV was subsequently renamed to ITV Granada on 1 November 2010.

On 25 March 2010, Astro Arena, Malaysia's first local sports channel, was launched. Astro Arena, a 24-hour local sports channel, will be delivered predominantly in Malay and available to all Astro customers under its Family Pack.

On 1 April 2010, Astro began transmission of the TVB Classic Channel, a drama channel in Cantonese, featuring memorable and highly rated dramas from the 1970s and 1980s. TVB's much-coveted vault of library titles covers varied genres, such as romance, costume, action, and comedy.

On 1 May 2010, Astro started transmission of ESPNews, a sports news channel from ESPN STAR Sports, showcasing the latest international and local sports news. This channel is a rolling news service featuring highlights, interviews, results, and lead-up stories.

In conjunction with the launch of Astro B.yond PVR, Astro launched 3-new high-definition channels such: AXN HD, Astro Zhi Zun HD – a Chinese general entertainment high-definition channel – and FX HD were joining Astro B.yond's HD line up. Also, FOX replaced Channel V from its channel listings. All these new channels started transmission on 16 June 2010.

On 1 July 2010, Astro started transmission of Astro SuperSport 3 (ASSP 3). ASSP 3 broadcasts 'LIVE' coverage of BPL (Barclays Premier League) games and feature highlights, previews, and magazine programs around the BPL. ASSP 3 also broadcasts other football plus a variety of different sporting genres.

On 11 August 2010, Astro started transmission of National Geographic Wild (Nat Geo Wild). Nat Geo Wild is available in Malaysian, English, and Mandarin language tracks for all programs.

On 17 August 2010, Astro started transmission of AXN Beyond HD as well.

On 1 October 2010, Astro launcheed three additional HD channels; ONE HD provides Asian general entertainment, focusing on Korean content. While STAR Movies HD brought movies in HD and Astro Lifestyle HD channel, which aired programmes from both Food Network Asia HD (9:00 am to 9:00 pm) and Life Inspired (Li) (9:00 pm to 9:00 am), but on 1 October 2012, the two programmings were split at the Channel HD to ch. 727, and ch. 728.

On 9 December 2010, Astro Tutor TV UPSR returned as a permanent channel on Astro with a programme line-up include Mathematics, Science, English, and Bahasa Malaysia with full interactive 'red-button' features to make revision even more engaging and fun.

On 14 January 2011, Astro launched Astro First, a first of its kind movie-on-demand service. Astro customers are able to watch films within two weeks after the cinema release.

On 1 May 2011, Astro started offering Astro Tutor TV channels for PMR and SPM versions, with the newest line-up programmes including Mathematics, Science, English, History, Malay, and Additional Mathematics (only for SPM) with full interactive 'red-button' features to make revision even more engaging and fun.

On 1 July 2011, Astro launched another new package called Indo Pek, comprising two new Astro branded channels named Bintang and Pelangi. Bintang provided Indonesian lifestyle entertainment such as music videos, gossips, and more. Pelangi showed Indonesian movies from the 1970s and later.

On 15 September 2012, Astro launched Disney's extreme channel in SD and HD, Disney XD on channel 617 and 637 (HD). These channels went to the Astro Family Pack.

On 13 January 2013, Astro launched the second Chinese HD channel named Astro Quan Jia HD for all Astro B.yond customers. The first Chinese HD channel Astro Zhi Zun HD was revamped to a Cantonese HD channel, a sister channel of Astro Wah Lai Toi.

On 3 June 2013, Astro launched the third Chinese HD channel named Astro On Demand HD for Astro B.yond customers who subscribe to the Astro On Demand Dragon Pack or Super Pack 3 with no extra cost. In the same day, the SD version of Astro On Demand renumbered CH 351–354 at 8.30 pm and CH 361–364 at 9.30 pm.

On 24 June 2013, Astro launched the second Malay HD channel named Astro Maya HD for all Astro B.yond customers as the success of the first Malay HD channel Astro Mustika HD. Astro Mustika HD would continue broadcast the newest Malay shows in HD. In the same day, Astro launched the fourth Chinese HD channel named Astro Hua Hee Dai HD for Astro B.yond customers who subscribe to the New Emperor Pack, Gold Pack, Wah Pack, or Super Pack 3 with no extra cost.

On 18 October 2013, Astro launched the first Tamil HD channel named Astro Vinmeen HD on channel 231 for Astro B.yond customers who subscribe to the Maharaja Pack or Namma Pack or Super Pack 2 with no extra cost.

On 11 July 2014, Astro incorporated Astro On Demand into the upgraded version of the Dynasty Package. This channel was made available to all existing Dynasty Package subscribers on the Astro B.yond platform.

On 6 October 2014, Astro's first Chinese HD channel Astro Zhi Zun HD, became Astro Wah Lai Toi HD on channel 310.

On 1 November 2014, Astro's first home shopping channel, Astro Go Shop, launched.

On 16 November 2014, Astro's second Chinese HD channel Astro Quan Jia HD, which shows local programmes and Singapore dramas, with Astro AEC, was moved to a new Chinese HD channel, Astro AEC HD on channel 306. And the Chinese Drama HD channel, Astro Shuang Xing HD on channel 307, which shows all drama in the SD version of Astro Shuang Xing, along with eight new media such as FOX Action Movies HD, FOX HD, FOX Family Movies HD, FYI HD, HITS HD, Celestial Classic Movies, ZooMoo, and DIVA HD. All of 8 new HD channels and ZooMoo were available for preview to all Astro customers from 16 November 2014 until 28 February 2015. At the same time, Astro chose to discontinue FOX in the SD version on channel 710 upgraded to FOX HD on channel 724.

On 18 November 2014, Astro Shuang Xing and Astro Shuang Xing HD showed the hottest HKTV drama for the first time with Chinese & Bahasa Malaysia subtitles until English subtitles for the second HKTV drama starting the end of 2015.

In the end-year 2014, Astro launched the first Korean channel in the SD version only for preview from the end of 2014 to 16 February 2015, Channel M, until the HD version launched.

On 1 February 2015, Astro launched the first free Chinese HD channel named Astro Xi Yue HD for all NJOI customers. However, this channel was also available for all Astro B.yond customers when 88% of the customers who have watching HD channels. NJOI has now had 25 SDTV channels, 20 Radio channels, and 1 HDTV channel. However, Astro has already had 49 HDTV channels, and the HD Service fee is not changed.

On 16 February 2015, Astro launched an all-new Korean Pack for K-pop fans. This pack included Oh!K HD and Channel M HD. These channels were now available on complimentary media from 16 until 28 February 2015. At the same time, Channel M in SD ended the preview on 16 February 2015, and Golf Channel HD launched.

On 26 February 2015, Golf Channel HD was no longer available on Sports Pack and becoming an ala carte channel. At the same time, Golf Channel in SD ceased transmission.

On 1 May 2015, Astro's new Value Pack called "Stars Pack" for Astro customers came with HD Service and Astro On The Go.

On 29 May 2015, Astro's first Malay HD channel Astro Mustika HD and second Malay HD channel, Astro Maya HD, and Astro Ria were moved to a new Malay HD channel, Astro Ria HD channel 123. At the same time, Astro Maya HD became available for all NJOI customers because of 1 million customers celebration.

On 2 June 2015, a new travel channel Go Asean launched on CH 737 on Astro and NJOI.

On 1 July 2015, Astro Vinmeen HD on channel 231 became available to all Singtel TV customers for Singaporeans on channel 626. This channel is available to Kondattam Starter, Trio, Variety, and Value Pack.

On 15 July 2015, Astro added three new sports channels: WWE Network (this channel broadcasts WWE shows and events and which also in HD) on track 820 and 840 (HD) and Setanta Sports HD (this channel broadcasts international events) on channel 839. At the same time, these new channels went to the Premium list, and the SD version of WWE Network went to NJOI Prepaid.

On 31 August 2015, Astro added four new channels: STAR Chinese Channel on channel 315, Nat Geo PeopleHD on channel 725, HGTV HD on channel 731, and Astro Cricket HD on channel 838.

On 19 October 2015, Astro's first home shopping channel, Astro Go Shop launched its Mandarin version in HD on channel 318. This channel is available for all Astro and NJOI customers only.

On 1 November 2015, Astro's first home shopping channel, Astro Go Shop in Malay version, was now upgraded to HD version on channel 118.

On 1 May 2016, Astro launched all-new Jade Pack for TVB fans. This pack included TVB Jade HD, TVB Classic, TVB Classic Movies, TVB Xing He, TVB Entertainment News, TVBS-Asia, and Asian Action Channel. TVB Jade HD, TVB Classic Movies, and Asian Action Channel were available for preview to all Astro customers from 1 May 2016 until 15 May 2016.

On 7 June 2016, Astro launched a unique channel for gamers, and fans of eSports were thrilled to know eGG Network channel 808, also known as Every Good Game, Southeast Asia's first 24/7 eSports and gaming entertainment.

On 1 August 2016, Astro added a new sports channel name beIN Sports channel 837, which offers comprehensive coverage of La Liga.

On 13 September 2016, Astro Hua Hee Dai began simulcast in both SD and HD.

On 1 October 2016, Zee Variasi was no longer available on Astro from 30 September 2016 but was replaced by a new Hindi HD channel called TARA HD on 19 October 2016.

On 31 October 2016, Astro added a new track called Boo, showcasing local and international horror films.

On 1 December 2016, Lifetime (CH 709) was upgraded to High Definition (HD) for a better viewing experience. Variety Pack customers on HD enabled setup-boxes (B.yond box) would still enjoy a preview of the channel until 31 January 2017.

On 2 December 2016, FYI went downgraded from HD to SD quality.

On 16 January 2017, Astro removed the ITV Choice channel 12.15 am due to low viewership.

On 1 April 2017, Astro On The Go changed its name to Astro GO. All Astro subscribers (excluding Astro NJOI) access everything that Astro Go offers, including all 71 live channels, over 23,000 on-demand content from Hollywood, Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, and also live sports from 1 April to 31 May 2017 for free, excluding Pay Per View (PPV) and premium ala-carte sports content.

On 1 May 2017, Astro added a new channel called Warner TV (CH719) in High Definition (HD). This channel was available for preview to all Astro customers from 1 May 2017 until 31 May 2017.

On 11 May 2017, Astro's first Malay HD channel Astro Mustika HD, which shows some comedy programmes in HD and Astro Warna, were moved to the new Malay HD channel, Astro Warna HD channel 124. This channel was available for preview to all Astro customers from 11 May 2017 until 17 May 2017. At the same time, Astro and the Government of Malaysia launched a new streaming service called NJOI Now. This streaming service allows all Malaysians to access over 2,000 titles of movies and drama box sets that may be downloaded and view offline. Varieties of entertainment programmes, news, live sports events, and selected Astro to live TV channels.

On 12 June 2017, Go Asean channel provider decided to cease transmission on Astro at 2.00 am. Go ASEAN remains its programmes on Tonton and DimSum.

On 1 August 2017, Astro launched the first Korean movies HD channel named tvN Movies HD for Astro B.yond customers who subscribe to the Movies Pack or Stars Pack or all Super Pack or all Super Pack Plus with no extra cost.

On 1 October 2017, Kah Lai Toi ceased transmission because of low viewership. The same day, Star World was replaced by Fox Life.

On 7 October 2017, Life Inspired ceased transmission due to migrating further losses by the company.

On 1 April 2018, ZooMoo ceased transmission due to migrating further losses by the company.

Astro B.yond

Main article: Astro B.yond

File:Astro-B.yond-Logo.jpg

Astro B.yond logo

ASTRO launched its own high-definition platform called Astro B.yond on 11 December 2009. Its rollout costed RM200 million, including marketing and operating costs of approximately RM150 million.

It introduced a PVR with an external hard disk drive connected to the decoder. The PVR comes with an inbuilt 500GB hard disk and allows customers to record up to two live programmes at one time, rewind, and pause live TV. Recording services are also available through Astro B.yond via a compatible external hard disk drive and activation of the recording service by Astro.

In April 2011, Astro B.yond introduced its IPTV platform, in association with TIME dotCom Berhad.

Astro IPTV

Main article: Astro IPTV

Launched on 20 April 2011 as Astro B.yond IPTV, it featured HD channels, a PVR, VOD channels, high-speed internet and voice services. Astro's initial target audiences were residences of high-rise buildings that were having difficulty with the installation of dishes from Astro's satellite service.

Astro NJOI

Main article: Astro NJOI

Astro NJOI is a Malaysian first free-to-view satellite TV service by Astro. Launched in collaboration with the Government of Malaysia on 18 February 2012, it debuted with 18 channels and 19 radio stations.

Currently, NJOI offers 26 SDTV channels, 5 HD channels and 26 radio channels.

Astro Ultra Box

Astro Ultra is Malaysia's first UHD pay TV service that delivers content to customers through their internet connection. The service was launched in early 2020 and it gave access to Malaysians a taste of 4K resolution broadcast TV. As part of the launch, Astro currently has 1 UHD channel which also premiered a live EPL match in 4K for the very first time in Malaysia. Astro Ultra is also the gateway to cloud recording, with a monthly subscription if customers need more recording space.

Service and technical information

Old (bottom) and new (top) Astro 60cm satellite dishes

Astro broadcasts on Ku-band using the transponders of the MEASAT satellite system. The reception of the service signals uses a fixed 65-cm diameter dish antenna. Astro service is currently transmitting from 3 satellites, which are Measat 3, Measat 3a, and Measat 3b.

Initially, the HDMI output of the B.yond PVR was disabled (including NJOI) if the user was not subscribed to the HD service. However, since late-2014, the HDMI output is now enabled to every customer with the release of firmware updates featuring multilingual user-interface.

Encryption

Since its launch, Astro distributes programming with encryption to mitigate signal piracy. The receiver (also known as an IRD, or "integrated receiver-decoder") uses ISO/IEC 7816 smart cards which tells the receiver how to decrypt the programming for viewing.

• The first generation of smart cards were used until 2004. The encryption uses the SECA Mediaguard.
• The second generation of smart cards were introduced in 2004 and used until 2008. The encryption uses the improved version of Mediaguard.
• The third generation of smart cards were introduced in 2008. This is the current "standard issue" smart card. It uses the NDS VideoGuard encryption system.

Currently, Astro uses the enhanced VideoGuard encryption system for B.yond boxes as it features smart card pairing technology, where the smart card is only allowed for the particular set-top-box issued by Astro, and it is no longer interchangeable like the legacy Astro set-top-boxes.

Viewership

As of February 2015, Astro has provided services to more than 4 million subscribers, which represents more than 50% of Malaysia's television households.

As of Q4 2016, Astro has 3.4 million pay-TV subscribers and 1.6 million NJOI subscribers, making a total of 5 million customers, which represents 71% of household penetration.

Astro Channel List

Includes Channels In Astro, Astro B.yond, Astro Ultra & Astro GO.

Malay Entertainment

• Astro Ria CH104/124
• Astro Prima CH105/125
• Astro Oasis CH106/126
• Astro Warna CH107/127
• Astro Citra CH108/128
• Naura CH109
• GO Shop CH111
• Astro Rania CH112
• Astro Aura CH113
• Astro Box Office Movies Tayangan Hebat CH115
• Go Shop Ruuma CH118
• Go Shop Gaaya CH120
• TVS (TV Sarawak) CH122
• TV1 CH101
• TV2 CH102
• TV3 CH103
• TV Alhijrah CH114
• ART Variety CH129
• NJOI CH140
• TV Okey CH146
• NTV7 CH147
• TV9 CH149

Indian Entertainment

• Colors CH116
• Astro Vaanavil CH201
• Sun Music CH212
• Astro Vinmeen HD CH231
• Star Vijay CH224/232
• Colors Tamil CH233
• Sun TV CH211/234
• Zee Tamil CH235
• Astro Box Office Movies Thangathirai CH241
• Astro Box Office BollyOne HD CH251
• Astro Vellithirai CH202
• Makkal TV CH203
• Chutti TV CH213
• Adithya TV CH214

Variety Chinese

• IQIYI CH300
• GO Shop Chinese CH303
• Astro Xiao Tai Yang CH344/304
• TVB Classic CH305
• Astro AEC CH306/346
• Astro Shuang Xing CH307/347
• Astro Quan Jia HD CH308
• Celestial Movies CH309/349
• TVB Jade CH310
• Astro AOD (HD) CH311/351-355
• Star Chinese Channel CH315
• CTi Asia CH316
• TVB Entertainment News CH317
• TVB News Channel CH318
• TVB Xing He CH 319/359
• TVBS Asia CH 320/360
• Astro Hua Hee Dai CH333/373
• CCTV-4 CH335/375
• 8TV CH148
• CCM CH321
• TVBS News CH 323
• Phoenix Chinese Channel CH 325
• Phoenix Info News Channel CH 326

Korean & Japan

• KBS World CH391/392
• ONE CH393
• Oh!K CH394
• tvN CH395
• NHK World Premium CH398

Movies

• HITS Movies CH401
• BOO CH404
• HBO CH411/431
• Cinemax CH412/432
• FOX Movies CH413/433
• Fox Family Movies CH414
• FOX Action Movies CH415
• TVN Movies CH416

News

• Astro Awani CH501
• CGTN CH503
• CNN International CH511/531
• BBC World News CH512/532
• Al Jazeera English CH513/533
• Sky News CH514
• CNA CH515
• Bloomberg Television CH517
• BERNAMA TV CH502
• CNBC Asia CH516
• ABC Australia CH518

Learning

• Nat Geo WILD CH550/570
• National Geographic CH551/571
• Discovery CH552/572
• Discovery Asia CH553
• Discovery Science CH554/574
• HISTORY CH555/575
• Animal Planet CH556/576

Kids

• Astro TVIQ CH610
• Astro Ceria CH611/631
• Disney XD CH612
• Disney Junior CH613
• Disney Channel CH614/634
• Cartoon Network CH615/635
• Nickeledeon CH616/636
• BabyTV CH618
• Astro Tutor TV UPSR CH601
• Astro Tutor TV PT3 CH602
• Astro Tutor TV SPM CH603

English Entertainment

• AXN CH 701/721
• Hello CH 702
• FOX Life CH 703/723
• FOX CH 704
• KIX CH 705
• HITS CH 706
• TLC CH 707/727

Criticism and controversies

Monopoly over paid television market

Astro has been criticized over its monopolistic practice where it has become a dominant paid television in Malaysia while its competitors such as ABNXcess, Mega TV and MiTV are not able to compete against Astro and become defunct few years after its launch. Previously Astro used to be the sole paid television operator in Malaysia until 2017 when another competitor, Telekom Malaysia's Unifi TV, has reportedly leading up to become the stronger cord-cutting alternative paid television to Astro as subscription revenue for Astro has fallen 2.7% in the first quarter of 2017, while Unifi TV gains subscription revenue by 58% in 2016, and the decline of Astro subscribers were attributed by Telekom Malaysia's decision to bundle Unifi TV with their own broadband internet, landline telephone and mobile network.

While their exclusive rights and privileges to broadcast exclusive contents were ended on 28 February 2017, however, Astro continued to have rights to broadcast on a non-exclusive basis as their Network Facilities Provider Individual Licence and Network Service Provider Individual Licence provided under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and Content Applications Service Provider (CASP) individual licence, will expire on 1 February 2020 and 28 February 2022. At the same time, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission would instead provide CASP individual license to 35 broadcasting companies to give customers more choices on content, in which 4 of the broadcasting companies are approved to broadcast their content through satellite television.

Malaysian government's proposed plan to cracking down on Android set-top box in 2019 similar to the action taken by government of Singapore has raised concern that Astro could benefits from this crackdown and continue to control Malaysian television market should the crackdown proceeds.

Sports content dispute

Astro also currently having greater control over broadcasting rights on sports events has prevent competitors from broadcasting similar sports events which Astro currently broadcasting, especially all Liga Super, Piala Malaysia, FIFA World Cup 2014 and 2018 contents broadcast in Radio Television Malaysia's free-to-air television channels were blocked on Unifi TV. The similar situation were also occurs on Media Prima when Media Prima had forced to abandon broadcasting FIFA World Cup 2014 on their television channels. The unavailability of these contents on competing services were attributed to Astro demanding Telekom Malaysia and Media Prima to pay royalty fees which were too high for these companies to afford. However, Telekom Malaysia had paid some royalty fees to Astro to allow Thomas Cup 2014 event broadcasts on RTM's TV1 to be allowed to shown on Unifi TV. The decision to charge high royalty fees were criticized by Jeremy Kung, executive vice president of TM New Media, who believe that sports contents broadcasts on free-to-air television channels should make it available to public for free. Former Information, Communications, Arts and Culture minister Rais Yatim urged the media groups who had exclusive rights to major sports events should share their contents to free-to-air television channels. Pakatan Harapan's youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad expressed that the rights to broadcast English Premier League should be co-licensed with Radio Television Malaysia instead of restricted to only available on Astro.

Overcharging

Astro has also been criticized over its decision to raise its services price and impose penalty fees multiple times.

In June 2007, Astro raised the service fee for about 15% and on November the same year, Astro has converted some previously free channels that they carried including Bloomberg, Al Jazeera English and CGTN into paid channels by bundling into channel packages. This makes movie channel and Chinese language television channel packages to become prohibitively expensive. Anyone who perform package downgrade or removal of some paid channels will be imposed additional RM 10 surcharge. Malaysiakini writer, Cheah Kah Seng, had encouraged the readers to protest against price hike and provide instructions on how to do so.

Despite the protest from subscribers, Astro continued the practice of raising the subscription fees two years later in 2009, and again in 2011, 2013 and 2014 respectively. This was due to Astro's exclusive rights to broadcast some contents through contract agreement with international television networks, which result to leave many customers without other cheaper and stronger alternatives.

Astro MAX

Customers who uses Astro own personal video recorder (PVR), Astro MAX, reported that the device performance were slow and lagging, and may occasionally experience some recorded contents being lost or corrupted. Other issues such as certain channels cannot be recorded were also reported.

Advertising on pay television channels

Paid channels carried on Astro usually carries traditional commercial advertising that will be shown on commercial break, despite customers had paid for the paid television channels.

See also

• Astro Channel List
• Television in Malaysia
• Digital television in Malaysia
• Kristal-Astro

External links

• Official website