WITH its stock price having hit a record low of 35 sen in recent times, questions have been raised over the sustainability of pioneer paid satellite TV station ASTRO Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s business.
With research house PublicInvest Research having projected the content and entertainment company’s earnings visibility “to remain weak due to the challenging operating environment of the media industry”, netizen Saify Akhtar 🇲🇾🇸🇬🇵🇰 (@saifyakhtar) has posed the question if “Astro will go bust”.
Bro, do you think Astro akan lingkup?
I think Astro is dying a slow death.
Why?
Because they have been in the comfort zone for so many years and have not disrupted themselves.
If a company keeps being a dinosaur company, of course you are waiting to become extinct.
Correct… pic.twitter.com/pddHaRpP13
— Saify Akhtar 🇲🇾🇸🇬🇵🇰 (@saifyakhtar) March 1, 2024
Opining that “Astro is dying a slow death”, Saify Akhtar attributed the chronic state Astro Malaysia is in today to having been in “the comfort zone for so many years and have not disrupted themselves”.
The short video clip also has the poster comparing Astro with streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon, where he concludes that the Malaysian company was being left far behind by competitors for “being late to the content game”.
He also cited the numerous packages that customers had to sign up for to enjoy the content whereas streaming competitors allowed customers full access to all content with one simple package.
Poor customer service and the hassle in disconnecting Astro services were also pinpointed as reasons for subscribers leaving en masse.
But most damning of all, the poster claims that Asto finds itself in its current predicament due to lack of competition for over two decades, leading it to get fat and comfortable in its own comfort zone.
Many netizens agreed with the poster with his video having been viewed over 265,800 times (at time of writing). Here is what some of them had to say:
Some suggests that Astro will survive so long as it has the monopoly on football broadcasts, specifically the English Premier League.
Others complained about the increasing number of advertisements on the satellite broadcaster’s channels.
Some reckoned that news of Astro’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. One claimed that as long as there was an audience for Astro’s substandard productions, it would stay afloat.
Some netizens were, however, equally scathing of both Astro and the streaming giants.
The many comments were mostly negative, suggesting that the Astro brand had been besmirched by years of monopoly, leading to terrible customer service.
The short clip along with its many negative comments reflect how poorly the Astro brand is perceived these days. The rock-bottom share prices confirm that the company is struggling in the age of digital streaming and downloads.
It will need to change its modus operandi to be more customer-centric and also up its ante regarding content, otherwise market forces dictate that Astro will join the likes of Radio Rediffusion in the dustbin of entertainment history. – March 3, 2024
