Premier League Pack (ASSP 1, 2, and 3) is now automatically 'secretly' included in all Value Packs without additional charges. I just realised that lol.

Err, what 'insider info'?? I'm not from Astro also...
It's kinda expected for that to happen... Very unlikely that Astro would dare to increase the price for Sports pack anymore, at least not anytime soon. Because it's no surprise to think that because of this COVID-19 global pandemic, economy going down, major live sports events were severely affected, hence customer's spending power goes down, so ultimately customer don't get what they want, of course if Astro want to retain too many customers that wants to downgrade package, they will go to the point of making their packages cheaper.
So what we are seeing now, is basically Astro trying to make its majority/premium customers happy, by reducing further financial damage.
Yes, making their sports channels cheaper does hurt their profit, but if they don't do that, that will hurt them even more in the long run as more upsetting customers downgrading their packages (they feel like not worth subscribing anymore, since not much or don't have live sports matches that they want to watch now).
And one of their method, is to at least make Sports Pack more flexible, by splitting it into many 'variation' of Astro SuperSport channels like what we're seeing now, and also include ASSP 1, 2 and 3 into all Value Packs

Imagine those who subscribe to Astro only because of Sports content (and pretty much nothing else), now live sports events aren't as much/normal as those days anymore, some would even go to the point of terminating the service altogether.
So Astro got to decide, you want to:

remain your Sports pack's expensive price like now, while each customer gives you RM0 per month forever upon terminating your service,
or
make your Sports pack to be flexible and cheaper, so that at least customers are still paying you something per month in the long run?

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...for-astros-plan
Astro rely a lot on sports content when it comes to company's profit. So Astro have no choice but to give in a bit...
You might not care about Astro's financially, but Astro is doing all it takes for own survival and go through this hard times.
That's why Astro have no choice but to make tough decisions, no matter how much they hate it.
I don't think local sports profits them as much as major foreign sports events.
As for sports offerings on Unifi TV, they just wanna get some sports content for its Unifi TV customers to watch only... And make it exclusive, so that Unifi TV can earn some profit from there, since viewers got to pay to Unifi to watch it.

Lol, now all Astro Box Office movies channels included in Wah Pack also??
Astro seems very desperate to just squeeze in as many channels as they can, to make it look like Wah Pack offers a lot of channels/content.

Astro got hit very hard this time...
Good for customers, bad for them.

No wonder Astro is shaking. Covid 19 might force sport content to rethink their strategies to D2C (direct to consumer) streaming. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/spor...media-coverage/

Covid 19 also forces pay TV to introduce more creative bundle pack with sports such as movies, news and entertainment content.
https://www.sportspromedia.com/analysis/cor...t-f1-twitch-nba

This post has been edited by izwanikhsan: May 18 2020, 05:24 PM

yup. not much $$ to be made..
exposure also lower...

Unifi is "forced" to take up..
if don't take up. there's No sport content from them
so those want to see local sports.. Unifi is your choice.. then u got RTM as alternative...

Astro already been shaking intensively since MCO started and especially all major live sports events were cancelled/postponed.
This time, whether they like it or not, they gonna face massive challenges in something that even the government / cronies also can't help them much. If that's what they want to survive lah.

Unhappy customers vs unhappy financial figures. Choose one.

That is why I am quite surprised that Astro has good lineup of 2019 latest movies on Astro Ria this Raya. They even have live raya program from 1st to 8th raya in the morning and at night. Look like they want to keep subscribers happy. Even the new channels Rania and Aura will be given free preview. I think this is part of the strategy so that there won't be mass termination.

Since this guy wanna share his journey with Astro for the past 25 years*, so I share it to you guys also.
*Astro was introduced in the year of 1996, so to be exact, it's maximum 24 years.


So what have we learnt here?
This is a clear evidence that it doesn't matter how loyal you are towards Astro, how punctual is your bill payments, how much you love Astro's brand, or even you subscribed to Astro since Day 1 of their service begins back in 1996, or whatsoever...
The customer service support treatment that you get from them will be the same and equal as what other customers are getting.

This is also a harsh lesson to you guys not to idolise Astro.
Because at the end of the day, all they can say is just 'thank you for being with us for such a long time', and nothing else.
If 'thank you' and 'we apologise for any inconveniences caused' is that simple to say as if it means nothing to them, then all they care is you don't bring any form of trouble to them.

So, keep paying your Astro bill as usual, and don't you have that kind of thought of even attempting to pay your Astro bills late.
Otherwise, you might get to see their true colours when you do that, and they don't care who you are.
No matter how rich or how poor you are, or what kind of status you have, the treatment towards you, are the same. They would give you the same nightmare as everybody else.

This post has been edited by joshhd: May 18 2020, 07:35 PM

I thought they also show some 'great movies of all time' kinds of Raya programming, as well as some Raya programmes in the previous years too?
I mean, do you see any other specials or major difference in this year's Raya programming on Astro, besides the ones you mentioned?

the one on ch.780 one.

Live entertainment shows in the morning and night from Raya 1st-8th. Normally Astro Ria will show movies from last 2 years. This year they show 2019 movies.
Strangely in previous years TV3 and TV9 have better lineup than Astro. This year Media Prima is very silent on their raya offering. Perhaps it's true that Media Prima is financially struggling.

Need more UHD (free) channels......

This post has been edited by stasio: May 18 2020, 07:49 PM

Media Prima is kinda "bleeding"...
U observe many seniors have gone already..
Only few leftovers...

And also the technical error during program.. it's getting more frequently... Especially if live event...

I see. Thanks a lot

Ooo... Well, nice to hear that Astro Ria is more behaving like a premium pay TV channel rather than free TV channel now
Media Prima has been financially struggling for many many years already, so it's not something new also.

Right now, Astro UHD ch780 is a combination of movies, documentaries, and sports (football matches)...
If Astro would to launch another 'Astro UHD' channel, what UHD content would you wish to watch on Astro?

Apparently, Astro is sending out notification emails to its Indian viewers.


Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=413...Em&__tn__=-RH-R

And, according to this email, it appears that the SD version of Star Vijay (ch224) will remain as usual/will not cease. So yeah, simulcast in SD and HD.

I got the email too... astro should cease SD version of Star Vijay.

NJOI still stuck with that, though.

Zee Thirai will be available in HD on starhub... hope to see that channel in astro

astro recycles its contents,from Astro First, thangathirai,it goes to Vinmeen, Vellithirai,from there it goes to Rajini 70!! So quite doubtful Zee thirai will be allowed,well lets hope for it,it will be a good alternative Infact they can consider replacing TT with ZT HD

This post has been edited by smileguy: May 19 2020, 09:13 AM

No need to replace TT with ZT, just mirror same programmes (while retain BM subs) is good enough.