The Art Of Self-Enrichment

In today?s issue of The Star Business it was reported that Astro is going to raise its monthly subscription by RM5 effective May 24. Jeff Ooi commented on this in Screenshots. This additional RM5 may add a whopping RM83 million to its annual sales based on the 1.39 million subscribers Astro currently has.

My favourite channels are the Discovery Travel & Adventure, AXN, Discovery, National Geographic and Star World. I am appalled by the oft repeated programmes, some which I have watched two years ago. Watching these is like going through a d?j? vu every few weeks. While we cannot deny that some of those learning channels have opened our eyes to sights we have never seen and taken us to scenes we can only dream of, it has also cultivated a generation of idiot box worshippers whose lives revolves around and are regimented by television programmes.

The pay-TV operator said in the May edition of its viewers’ guide that it would raise monthly subscription rates by RM5 after May 24 ?to improve the variety of programmes and channels.” Astro expects to ?deliver over a hundred channels by next year, courtesy of a new Measat 3 satellite.” It did not elaborate.

The Star Business, April 27, 2004.

What I am against of is that the raise in subscription price does not correspond to an increase in service. If it is in the works, it was neither announced nor elaborated as evident by the excerpt above. This is a sure-fire way to increase one?s coffer without doing much. I am not about to pay Astro for it to finance its expansion of services which I have to fork out more again if I want to subscribe to those extra channels later.

Unless Astro can justify the price increase, I will have no qualms in ending my subscription. It is unfortunate that I was taken in by one of their free decoder promotions. I am bound to maintain and keep active the account for twelve months or pay RM500. There are a few more months to go before the twelve-month period is up. I shall just have to wait and see if the increase is warranted.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

2 thoughts on “The Art Of Self-Enrichment”

  1. What a waste of good money huh! With so many free-to-air stations, I do not think I will miss Astro much. I only watch three hours per day anyway.

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