Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) urged the government today to end the monopoly of pay TV operator Astro for providing shoddy entertainment at overpriced subscription rates.

Five members of the NGO formed a 'Bantah Astro' group and submitted a memorandum to the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

astro satellite dish They were received outside Parliament House by MPs from the opposition.

"The monopoly of Astro only benefits government cronies at the people's expense. The worst is that, its services are very poor.

"By right, the government shouldn't let Astro raise its fees as and when it fancies, " SAMM spokesperson Khairool Anuar Al-Megat said.

In the memorandum, SAMM noted that it had protested against Astro's last subscription increase, which was implemented on Nov 24.

SAMM also questioned why Malaysia must have only one exclusive pay-TV provider, citing that India has six operators and Australia has three.

Last month, Astro had informed subscribers that it will charge an additional RM2-6 for the Family Pack and Sports Pack, which prompted another NGO to urge a boycott of the company.

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SAMM made a list of complaints against Astro  which included:

  • Poor reception when it rained,
  • Too many repeated programmes every month and throughout the year,
  • There were too many commercials/ advertisements.

Besides making a demand to end Astro’s monopoly, SAMM also urged government-owned RTM to improve its programming.

Later, Kota Baru MP Takiyuddin Hassan told reporters at the Parliament lobby that he and other PAS MPs has agreed to take up the SAMM cause.

Besides reading out and repeating SAMM’s demands, Takiyuddin also noted that the BN government had promised to find to break up Astro’s monopoly in July 2011 but has not acted until now.

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin meanwhile added that Astro needs to do more corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“We urge Astro to broadcast the Parliament sessions ‘Live’... not only football matches and entertainment which cannot fully educate the rakyat,” Sim said.

According to its website, Astro now has a growing customer base of over 3.7 million residential customers or approximately 54 percent penetration of Malaysian TV households. Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan is a major shareholder in the Bursa Malaysia-listed company.