Nice. We only have SD version of one hour delayed MTV and Astro's home cooked Astro HITZ. I'm still mad that they removed CHANNEL V long time ago. We need to watch Youtube for HD music videos LOL.

ASTRO prioritizes BPL over other contents. I made the right decision to remove the sport package. More savings post-GST and depreciating ringgit.

Astro COO Henry Tan: Local is the new premium as Hollywood risks being ‘oversold’
Henry Tan, the COO of Malaysian pay-TV giant Astro, has said that locally produced content now commands a greater premium than Hollywood formats, which he says are in danger of losing their value due to piracy and being “oversold”.
In an interview with Mumbrella in Kuala Lumpur, the outspoken executive said that Astro’s content packages with local signature shows see a stronger uptake than Hollywood offerings, which are now effectively sold as add-ons.
“In the last few years, as we’ve strengthened our local offering, we’ve found that local content packages have seen the strongest take up among our customers. And we’ve found that with some of the international Hollywood content, take up comes from smart packaging or bundling,” said Tan.
“So if you give the consumer a choice, the first pack they’ll take is the local one, because of the local signature shows,” he said.
“The way we sell Hollywood packs is to bundle it with local content for a nominal sum,” he said.
“The trend has reversed. Ten years ago, Hollywood was the main driver and the local content was the nice to have. Now Hollywood is the add on.”
Tan said that customers are not willing to pay for Hollywood content on Astro’s platforms if they can get it faster and cheaper in pirated form, and a deal with content creators in the US now means that some shows will be shown on Astro channels on the same day as in the UK or the US.
Though local content is more expensive to produce than shipping it from overseas, home-grown television delivers better ROI for Astro, Tan said, since local shows can be promoted through live events and roadshows to introduce the stars to their fans.
“The value perception is fast changing,” Tan said. “We have to redefine the value that customers are willing to pay for.”
Western formats, which still feature strongly on Astro’s channel line-up, are at risk of overexposure, Tan suggested.
“If I were to be brutal, I would say that Hollywood is in danger of being oversold, meaning it is so readily available everywhere that it may lose its premium value,” Tan said.
“Like anything in life, if something is common and easily available, it no longer commands a premium.”
Piracy is the biggest threat to Astro’s business, Tan said.
“In the old days, piracy was offering the product at a lower price. Today’s piracy is a real challenge for any legitimate content creator around the world – the access to pirated free content,” he said.
“This is a challenge not only for us, but for OTT [over-the-top] operators, as consumers who are used to the OTT space are also well versed in pirated methods.”
As well as persuading Hollywood to release its content sooner, Astro has tackled piracy by introducing more live shows, such as sport, reality TV and singing competitions.
On the subject of Malaysia’s economy, which has been hit by a dip in consumer confidence following the introduction of goods and services tax as well as ongoing political upheaval, Astro may see a slowdown in the paid portion of its business this year, Tan conceded.
“Given the economic challenges in the coming year, we think the pay portion of the business may slow down. But were are very buoyant about our free offering, Njoi,” Tan said.
“We are optimistic that Njoi will grow significantly. And we think Astro will move from reaching 65 per cent to 80 per cent of the population, largely driven by Njoi.”
The full interview with Tan is to run on Mumbrella next week.

BE PREPARED FOR MORE LOCAL HOMECOOKED CHANNELS. DUE TO ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN, ASTRO IS HANGING ON YHE LAST THREAD: NJOI. HOW WILL IT SURVIVE ONCE MYTV LAUNCHES NATIONALLY IS ANYBODY'S GUESS.

MTV, NICK, CARTOON NETWORK, LIFETIME, NAT GEO WILD, FOX SPORT 2, FOX SPORT 3, EUROSPORT, AFC HAVE BEEN UPGRADED TO HD ELSEWHERE BUT ASTRO.

beIN Sports extends European football across the US
| 20 August 2015
beIN Sports has renewed its exclusive broadcast rights for three of the top football leagues in the world - Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1 - and will deliver them across the US from the 2015-2016 season.
Renewing its bet on international football , all matches will be available on beIN Sports, beIN Sports en Español and beIN Sports Connect, the network's live streaming platform.
"We at beIN SPORTS are thrilled to announce the renewal of these three great competitions, and we are very happy that we will continue to provide sports fans with the world's best sporting events," said Yousef Al-Obaildly, deputy CEO of beIN Media Group. "With so many exclusive live matches, beIN SPORTS continues to provide the content that passionate soccer and sports fans crave."
Ready to kick off tomorrow (21 August), La Liga is the top football league in Spain, with star-studded talent including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, James Rodriguez and Luis Suarez.
Serie A, Italy's first division, also kicks off this weekend. The top matches to watch this season include three-time defending champions Juventus who face last year's runner up Roma on 30August, as well as the Milan Derby, on 13 September.
France's Ligue 1 started on 7 August and features the rivalry between Olympique Marseille and three-time defending champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona, the reigning European champions, start their La Liga title defence with revenge on their minds when they visit Athletic Bilbao on Monday morning (Singapore time).
The match will be an opportunity for Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Co. to put an ever-improving Bilbao side in their place, after Ernesto Valverde's men posted a 5-1 aggregate victory over Luis Enrique's aristocrats in the Spanish Super Cup.
It is a potentially explosive encounter, but football fans in Singapore will not be able to watch it on TV.
Fox Sports Asia, which has had the local rights to the Spanish top flight since 2012, was not successful in securing a deal this time around. The channel, which is available on both StarHub and Singtel TV, will not screen any La Liga matches this season.
The New Paper understands that the Asian rights to the league were secured by beIN Sports, which does not have a channel in Singapore. Owned by Qatari Sports Investments, beIN is a global network of sports channels founded in 2012.
When contacted, a spokesman for Fox Sports said: "Fox Sports has been officially informed by (Spanish communications group) Mediapro that it has not been successful in renewing its broadcast rights to the Liga BBVA in Singapore.


DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE ONLY WAY FOR ASTRO TO BROADCAST LA LIGA, SERIE A AND LIGUE 1 IS BY STRIKING A DEAL WITH BEIN SPORT?

This post has been edited by izwanikhsan: Aug 24 2015, 07:40 AM

If only they can bring in BEIN SPORTS and HD version of FOX SPORT 2 and 3 instead of NAT GEO PEOPLE HD and HGTV HD.

I think STAR CHINESE CHANNEL is more relevant as for years, Chinese viewers only got Astro own in house channels while ASTRO CRICKET is specifically designed for cricket fans. I think BEIN SPORTS & FOX SPORT 2 & 3 HD are more relevant than HGTV and NAT GEO PEOPLE as they have abundant of lifestyle and documentary channels.already

ASTRO has quietly launched SPORT LITE package priced at RM12.72 (inclusive of GST) offering SUPERSPORT 1 and 2. Perhaps this is a counter measure after losing too many SPORT pack customers due to the failure to secure broadcast rights for La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A.




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I've checked channel 200. Astro Sport Lite package includes Supersport, Supersport 2, Supersport HD and Supersport 2 HD. Quite reasonable pricing at RM12.72 per month. The price is similar to good-for-nothing Indo Pek.

This post has been edited by izwanikhsan: Aug 28 2015, 05:10 PM

Fox Sport 2 in Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia is showing Rugby World Cup without additional fee while Astro requires subscribers to subscribe to SETANTA for freaking RM53 to enjoy RWC. greed has no limit.

What are new features in the new update? Just some cosmetic touch-up?

Finally La Liga is back on Astro Supersport 3 tonight. I wish they bring BeIN Sports instead but yeah better late than never.

How about Singapore? Has La Liga made its way to Starhub or Singtel?

BTW the excitement is rather short lived as Astro brings only selected La Liga matches, unlike it's BPL's broadcast rights. So far, they show La Liga on Astro Supersport 3/HD. I guess they can't afford the exorbitant rate charged by beIN Sports to get access to all matches.

Astro's Satellite Broadcast Exclusive Right Until February 2017 - Ministry

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 (Bernama) -- The government is maintaining the exclusive right for satellite broadcast for MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd up to Feb 28, 2017, said the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

It said in a written reply circulated in the Dewan Rakyat that the right was maintained for the Astro operator based on the 'no worse off' principle during the migration from the Broadcast Licence to the Content Applications Service Provider Individual Licence.

"This exclusive right was granted by the Government of Malaysia to MBNS in 1997 before the migration of MBNS from the Broadcast Licence under the Broadcasting Act 1988 to the new regime under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

"MBNS can continue with the pay-TV broadcasting service via satellite to the general public after 2017, but not exclusively," the ministry said in reply to a question from Datuk Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin) who had wanted to know whether the government would continue with the exclusive rights for Astro which would expire next year.

In addition, the ministry said other companies could begin to apply to purchase pay-TV broadcasting services via satellite after Feb 28, 2017.

-- BERNAMA
OTHER COMPANY MAY ONLY START APPLYING FOR THE SATELLITE TV LICENCE BEGINNING FEB 28, 2017. SO WE MAY NOT SEE ANY COMPETITOR UNTIL 2018 I GUESS.

“Net ads declined 35% y-o-y to 267,000 from 410,000 subscribers. In accordance with weak consumer and business sentiment, both Pay-TV and NJOI registered lower subscribers" - The Edge.

With the current pricing people are already terminating or downgrading their packages, I think ASTRO will lose more customers if they decide to increase the package price.

My area is worse. Streamyx only 1mbps. Often MAGIC SIM FREE BURUNG HANTU INTERNET can stream and download faster than Snailmyx.

The cheapest option is Family + 1 mini + Sports. If want HD, must add more $$ for HD service.

I thought they have started the service in Kelantan & Terengganu? Are you the chosen one to be one of the testers?

I DON'T THINK ASTRO WILL ADD MORE NEW CHANNELS IN THE NEAR FUTURE OR UPGRADE EXISTING CHANNELS LIKE ANIMAX, MTV TO HD CONSIDERING THIS NEWS & THEIR FOCUS ON OLYMPICS & EURO 2016 + WEAK RINGGIT.

Saturday, 23 January 2016
Astro shares hurt by Netflix’s entry and weaker ringgit
BY B.K. SIDHU


More competition: An Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd signage stands beside a satellite dish at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. An analyst felt Astro’s share price has dropped due to entry of more players in the field.
More competition: An Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd signage stands beside a satellite dish at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. An analyst felt Astro’s share price has dropped due to entry of more players in the field.

SATELLITE pay TV company, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd shares have come under pressure in recent weeks and were further bruised after news broke of Netflix’s entry into the country recently.

Astro’s share price has fallen below its IPO price of RM3 to its record low since its listing in October 2012. It closed at RM2.56 on Friday, 15% or 44 sen from its IPO price.

One factor driving Astro’s share price lower is the weaker ringgit. The drop in the local currency against the US dollar means Astro has to cough out more to pay for global content.

Astro content cost for three months (third quarter) ending October 31, 2015 was RM427mil, which accounts for 38% of its revenue. It was 1% higher than the earlier quarter. According to reports, Astro has hedged its foreign currency exposure but not all of it.

This year Astro’s content cost is likely to be higher as there are two major “live’’ sporting events it will bring in for its viewers. They are the Euro 2016 and Olympics, and the rights for the next three seasons of the BPL will likely be higher.

“They will be paying more in content this year, also due to the weaker ringgit,’’ says an analyst.

She felt the share price drop was for now seen as a “knee jerk’’ reaction to the entry of more players in the field, but she also cautioned that “Astro will have to do something about it.’’

“No doubt they have local content and their stronghold is the “live’’ sporting events content, but this is a real threat, though long term, and that needs to be addressed. The sooner they address it, the better it will be,’’ she adds.

What is adding pressure to Astro is the growing number of online streaming companies that have emerged as a threat to traditional homegrown TV companies.

Netflix is a big name globally and on Jan 6 came to Malaysia offering streaming services at attractive pricing.

A few months earlier, iflix, a similar set up like Netflix, entered the market place. Its offering is now available on Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s HyppTV.

But what companies like Netflix have yet to do is standardise their content with that in the United States as that is what viewers here want.

What is in Astro’s favour is its local content strategy apart from its screening of live sports.

“That is why Astro needs to keep paying for live sports content as that it is its real differentiator from the rest of the pack including the online streaming boys,’’ said the analyst.

The growth areas for Astro remains Njoy, premium subscribers and adex, she adds.

“Eventually it will get to head-on competition,’’ adds another analyst.

And the sooner Netflix gets the standardisation of content sorted there will be more interest in their offering, said an industry executive.

Astro has 4.7 million subscribers as at end October, 2015 or 66% of total households in the country.

Maybank IB Research in its report does not believes that the arrival of Netflix in Malaysia will change the Malaysian TV competitive landscape due to its lack of vernacular content and weak value proposition.

It adds there is the incumbents’ live content.

Astro is expected to announce its results for financial year ending Jan 31, 2016 in March and analysts are expecting a 10% growth in its core earnings per share (EPS) to 12% from 10% previously. For 2017 the expectation is 14% EPS.

The average revenue per user per month is projected to rise marginally to RM99.50 from RM99 as at full year 2016.

Astro remains a “buy” stock for 14 broking houses for now. Only two have a “sell’’ call and 9 a “hold’ call, according to Bloomberg estimates. The target price listed there remains at RM3.26.