hmm.. for me it's consider a bit weak...
since for my average, I can get about 210 to maximum 216 sometimes....

.By S Navalan

PUTRAJAYA: Amidst news of takeover plan and surging share prices for Astro, a tough stand taken by the Singapore government on pay-for-view channels yesterday is hardly good news for the Malaysian pay-for-view television operator

Plenty of complaints have been made about the high prices viewers have to pay to watch special events such as cricket, wrestling and boxing events and both the Singapore and Malaysian governments last month announced that they will review certain rules and regulations on exclusive content.

But the Singapore government has taken its first step in reviewing such contracts. Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) is investigating the conduct of pay-TV operators over the issue of exclusive content here yesterday.

StarHub and SingTel are the two main pay-TV operators in Singapore.

That news may dampen some spirits in Astro as income from special events definitely helped when it announced a net profit of RM232.97 million two weeks ago for financial year ended Jan 31, 2010, after an impressive revenue of RM3.258 billion recorded in 2009.

However, despite the setback and Astro awaiting the Malaysian government's move following the Singapore’s decision, news filtered through that Astro’s  majority owner, billionaire Ananda Krishnan, offered RM2.4 billion to buy out minority stakeholders and take full control.

Krishnan, Malaysia’s second-richest man, and his affiliates through a holding company collectively hold about 73 percent of the pay-TV company Astro All Asia Networks Plc.

Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd has offered to buy out the minority shareholders at RM4.62 a share, representing a 28 percent premium over Astro’s average share price over the last six months.

The news pushed Astro shares up by an impressive 18 percent this week.

Attractive offer

Astro Holdings said the takeover would accelerate the pay-TV company’s overseas expansion, especially in India and China as well as boost new initiatives in Australia, Middle East and North Africa. “Astro Holdings is offering the minority shareholders the opportunity to exit at an attractive premium while not subjecting them to the associated risks of the company’s next growth phase,” the statement said.

Maybank Investment Research said in a report that the offer price was above fair value and attractive. But it added that there may be “unhappy minority shareholders” since the offer price was only about six percent above what institutions paid in the company’s initial public offering back in 2003.

Despite its profitable Malaysian operations, Astro posted a net loss of RM529.18 million in fiscal 2009, dragged down by losses at its overseas operations in Indonesia and India.

Astro has a 20 percent stake in India’s Sun Direct TV. Its pay-TV joint venture in Indonesia ceased operations in late 2008 after a contract dispute.

Krishnan, 70, a self-made billionaire, also controls satellite operator MEASAT Global, top mobile phone company Maxis and power producer and numbers-betting operator Tanjong PLC.

In 2007, he had similarly bought out Maxis for about RM15.84 billion to accelerate its regional expansion. Maxis re-listed its domestic operations in November 2009 to raise RM11 billion in the biggest share sale ever in Southeast Asia.

However, yesterday’s news may bring some twist to the takeover deal, especially with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak hoping the business climate in Malaysia will be friendlier to the people and his team taking note of what took place in Singapore.

"MDA is concerned about reports that operators have rushed into locking up exclusive content before the effective date of the cross-carriage measure," said Singapore’s MDA's head of competition and market access, Eileen Ang, in an interview.

"Hence, MDA is investigating the matter to determine if this is indeed the case."

Ang said MDA has exercised its statutory powers to get operators to provide MDA with relevant information for its investigation.

Hefty fees

The problem has cropped up in Malaysia and Singapore where events like wrestling, cricket and world-class boxing have come under the special sports category whereby subscribers have to pay hefty fees just to watch a three-hour show.

Special cricket competitions have also come under scrutiny in Malaysia as viewers may end up paying more than RM200 just to get a chance to watch top Test matches live. There is also an extra fee for viewers to watch the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in HD.

But both Singapre's StarHub and SingTel said they would cooperate with MDA in its investigations. In Malaysia, Astro is currently the only pay-for-view channel around although that may change soon as the government is expected to end its exclusive rights in two years.

According to media reports yesterday, Singapore’s Acting Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts, Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew, had revealed in Cannes that the government was investigating the last-minute flurry of exclusive deals, which were signed before the new ruling that exclusive content must be shared was announced on March 12.

Like in Malaysia, the Singapore Government had taken care to hold only “limited closed-door consultations” to try and prevent leaks ahead of the March 12 announcement, which overhauled how pay-TV content is bought, sold and distributed in Singapore. And the Malaysian government's move on this latest development was followed by Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand.

maybe the sources itself..
not all sources on HD channels are in HD and 16:9, especially for History HD..
sometimes they just upscale it and if they stretched the 4:3 videos, it will become more worse....

Is it true bro ? When when when ??

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Added on April 19, 2010, 5:00 pm

guys,

I have a few questions:

2. can new byond card been used at old decoder?

no.. but.. it will makes u think other SD channel is very2 bad quality.. haha.. optical illusions.. haha

the LNB came installed wif the dish.................

decorder is made in Malaysia

what do you mean? it is a Pace decoder box

Just good both decoders changed to beyond

HD channels appear brighter than normal channel

is it me or are the movies offered on HBO HD really boring..

Wondering why Astro never provide subtitles to HBO HD although HBO SD has it.
Why can't they just port over the subtitles to HBO HD?

Pleaseeeee, no subs. Close captioned yes. I despise the hard subs in Astro!

Ah, spot on..but
i agree with you and usually for that program they do , but since i watch it on Byond, does that make any diff at all?

Not HD bro , im talking about the current SD channels. The sub are not available.

wok cover diy offset dish LOL




this one is prime focus ku band dish using wok