My Astro History

This entry was published previously in my English Blog. I decided to paste back the content as it has historical value in my life.



I could not remember the exact date I started subscribing Malaysia's leading satellite tv, ASTRO. I even couldn't remember the exact year whether it was 2002 or 2003, but definitely not 2004 or 2001.
I was living with two housemates and when I installed the satellite tv, both began to contribute as well, one bought a sofa set and the other one bought a new refrigerator to finally complete the housing appliances.
The price to buy an ASTRO during those days was expensive but I could not remember whether its 899 or 1299, I guess it was RM 899, which was bought from an electrical shop at section 18 Shah Alam (the shop still exist).
My first ASTRO package was Discovery,News and Sports, Sports was still one of the mini packages and the monthly bill was below rm 50. During the first month Astro gave a free all package viewing. A year later, I add Variety because I wanted to watch comedy shows at Star World and I was paying RM59.90 per month for all the 4 mini packages.
In 2009, I add the Movie Package and during this time the Sports Channel has been a special package on its own with an increased subscription price. I was paying RM110 per month. For the sake of my daughter and so that she won't disturb her mother so often, I add the Cartoon package, removed the Variety as I had never watch it anymore (the MTV are bored and Astro Free channel has its own music video channel, I lose track of the Sitcoms, I don't watch Anime) and realizing I'm missing the Crime Investigation Channel, I add the Metro Package. Now I'm paying RM 125 per month. The first week I was hooked on the CI channel but after that I moved to Turbo channel. Last night, I realize the Hallmark channel was not there anymore as they had replaced it with Diva which seems more interesting. To compare Astro during 2002-2003 and now, there's a lot more channel today but the  cost had rise. I'm thinking of getting a B.Yond perhaps.
Do you know what I hate most about Astro channels? Most people hate their repetitive programs but I do have a strategy on how to overcome it. What I do hate is there are still commercial breaks and Astro Promos between programs (minus Movie Package)although we had pay the subscription, which justify that they could cover the commercial income.

This Entry was written on October 2010 in my old blog. Some information are not accurate anymore especially on the BYond as I am using B.Yond right now.