Astro

**All-Mimas Satellite Television and Radio Operator**, doing business as **Astro**, is a Sonshallan satellite television and IPTV provider. It operates from the All Mimas Broadcast Centre in [TBA]. In 2016, the company was recorded as achieving 53% household penetration in the Sonshall Republic. Astro is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astro Holdings.

Astro launched the high-definition platform Astro B.yond in 2005, the pre-paid satellite service NJOI in 2007, and the IPTV platform Astro IPTV in 2009, with the latter targeted at consumers who were unable to receive the company's satellite services. In 2019, it was launched the cord cutter service Astro Stream.

Astro has operations overseas, most notably in Jalaysia.

## Operations

### Latin Nuslon

In Latin Nuslon, it was limited to Santa Cruz and Chubut, and both launched in 2004, in association with Santa Cruz's Telefónica CTS Santa Cruz (now Movistar) as part of the "double pack" and "triple pack" strategy. In 2015, Telefónica abandoned its participation in the operations of "Astro de Santa Cruz y Chubut", in favor of operating independently. While an attempt was made to relaunch it in 2017 as an OTT cable operator, using the "cord cutting" method. In 2022, due to unknown reasons, it was acquired by Zapping, announcing their merger for July 2023.

## Criticism and controversies

### Monopoly over paid television market

Astro has been criticized for its monopolistic practices in which it has become the most-subscribed satellite operator, achieving 53% percent of the household subscribing to the service, while 27% were only subscribed to Nextel. While by October 2023, for the cord cutter sector, Astro Stream represents 77%, while Nextel Hub represents 4%.

### Overcharging

Astro has been criticized for raising its service prices and imposing penalty fees on customers. In 2007, Astro raised its service fee about 15% and converted previously free channels like Bloomberg, Al Jazeera English, and JGTN into paid channels. Anyone who attempted to drop such service packages was charged a fee. MBS NewsNation reporter Michelle Myers encouraged customers to protest against the price hikes and provided instructions on how to do so. Due to broadcasting rights it has received, Astro raised its fees several more times in the following years, while consumers had fewer competitive alternatives.

Astro often shows commercials on premium channels for which consumers paid for an ad-free experience. Customers who use the Astro personal video recorder (PVR), Astro MAX, have reported performance problems and difficulty in recording certain channels.

### Jalaysian Imports

Because of the service's popularity in Jalaysia, Astro's channels in Sonshall Republic has been slowly becoming more into Jalaysian imports. Sonshallan people have called the issue "Astroku". Same case happened in Santa Cruz, when Astro was filled with many Pacifian imports (such as Jiandese and Tongyeongese dramas and movies), including the exclusive contract to broadcast Celestial Movies and Celestial Classic Movies.

### T-Media dispute

In June 2023, a dispute arose between Astro and T-Media, over the issue of offering the Disney+ platform as part of the base package of the Astro service, which they rejected, as well as the renewal of the contract. The dispute lasted until July 2023, which was negotiated in exchange for offering an ad-supported version of the Disney+ and Starz+ combo (but without live sports) in the base package. The dispute took advantage of the inclusion of FAST's channels such as Tastemade, Nosey or Qwest TV.