KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd plans to strengthen its position as the preferred entertainment destination for Malaysians, by deepening engagement with its 5.7 million customers via new experiences like its 4K UHD and cloud recording, as well as more value and convenience.
"Our content and broadband bundles offer even more value and convenience, as well as unlock our rich On Demand library of over 50,000 titles. Meanwhile, NJOI, our freemium TV service, offers Malaysians a compelling free TV proposition with options to purchase additional channels and content," Astro group chief executive officer Henry Tan said in a statement after the group's annual general meeting today.
Astro, which has three exclusive streaming services — namely Astro GO, HBO GO and iQIYI — is also planning to introduce more streaming services for its customers soon.
Meanwhile, the group is optimistic that its e-commerce platform Go Shop, which it said performed well during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, will sustain the positive trend.
Even as supply lines were disrupted, Go Shop pivoted to health-related products, fresh food and daily essentials as demand picked up, the group said.
Astro further said its swift response to support customers and Malaysians during the MCO was possible because of the critical building blocks put in place in financial year 2020 to strengthen both its household and individual offerings.
"We have shown ourselves to be agile and responsive, driven by technology and digital; and leveraging on Astro's strengths — namely content, market reach and marketing capabilities.
"Astro is more than just a platform. Going forward, our focus is to produce more winning and compelling content; and concurrently innovate and simplify our offerings and customer experience," Tan said.
"We will aggregate more streaming OTT (over-the-top) services to be the digital content provider of choice. We will also continue to [optimise costs], pursue active capital management and reprioritise capex to ensure financial headroom for a challenging year ahead," he concluded.
Astro shares closed at 78.5 sen, down 0.5 sen or 0.63%, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM4.09 billion. Year-to-date, the counter has retreated 38.19% from RM1.27.