This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 15, 2026 – June 21, 2026

JUST three days before this year’s Fifa World Cup kick-off in Mexico City, incumbent pay-TV operator Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd (KL:ASTRO) suspended trading in its shares for an hour on June 8 to announce the departure of group CEO (GCEO) Euan Smith “after six years of dedicated leadership”, with predecessor Henry Tan returning as interim group CEO from June 16 pending the appointment of a successor.

“With the platform transition well advanced, it is timely for a change of leadership at Astro to navigate the business,” the company’s media statement read.

Smith, who joined Astro as group chief operating officer in April 2020 and was promoted to GCEO in February 2023, “will continue to provide technical advisory assistance or support to the board until Dec 6, 2026”.

Tan had been with Astro for more than a decade, serving as group chief content and consumer officer, before assuming the role of GCEO from February 2019 to January 2023.

Astro is slated to release earnings for its first quarter ended April 30, 2026 (1QFY1/2027), on June 15. It will hold its 14th annual general meeting (AGM) in Kuala Lumpur on July 30, 11 days after the World Cup final on July 19.

For the first time in 20 years, Astro subscribers will have to look outside its platform to watch the World Cup. Public broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (KL:TM) Unifi TV are the official broadcasters for the tournament. After 30 years, RTM will stop broadcasting its channels on Astro platforms from July 1.

While some reckon Astro may have “dodged a bullet” by avoiding astronomical rights fees and the obligation to offer premium content at bargain prices while battling piracy, others wonder whether losing the broadcasting rights not only cost it a chance to capture audiences across its platforms but would also embolden rivals to challenge its hold on other sports and programming rights.

“Long-standing subscribers often stay out of inertia, but this shock could prompt some to seek an alternative. The World Cup also draws a broader audience than the regular football fan base that follows the English Premier League or La Liga,” an observer says.

Reducing subscriber churn

Whether it is Tan, Smith or a new GCEO fielding questions from minority shareholders at Astro’s upcoming AGM, he or she is likely to need to explain why pay-TV is not a sunset business and why Astro remains relevant as Malaysia’s home of great content, including sports.

Astro will also need to demonstrate that it can stem the decline in both its premium pay-TV and freemium streaming subscriber base, while boosting subscription revenue and scaling adjacent businesses, in line with the group’s pivot to create new revenue streams from its existing assets and expertise through sooka, Astro Fibre, data-targeted advertising solutions and Astro Studios. So far, growth from these new revenue streams has failed to offset falling subscription revenue, resulting in lower earnings.

As at end-January 2026, only an estimated two million, or less than 40%, of Astro’s 5.18 million subscribers were premium pay-TV subscribers, The Edge’s back-of-the-envelope calculations show. That is down by 1½ million premium pay-TV customers from seven years ago, even though Astro may have managed to retain some subscribers via its free and freemium streaming alternative services. Its total subscriber base is also down by about half a million from its peak of 5.713 million subscribers as at end-January 2019. Astro has stopped providing a breakdown of its subscriber base for at least a decade now.

With more viewers turning to steaming platforms as well as pirated TV boxes, Astro’s TV household penetration had also slipped to 63% as at end-January 2026 from 77% as at end-January 2019 while its share of TV viewership had fallen to 71% from 77% as at end-January 2018. Average revenue per user (ARPU) had also declined to RM94.30 per month at end-January 2026 from as high as RM100.40 per month in the financial year ended Jan 31, 2017 (FY1/2017), according to The Edge’s compilation of Astro’s numbers.

“Astro’s pay-TV revamp under Astro One has fallen short of delivering the expected uplift in subscriptions. Instead, the strategy has led to cannibalisation, with customers shifting to lower-priced tiers, resulting in subscriber attrition and ARPU dilution. Consequently, revenue has declined. While management expects ARPU to stabilise, we note the continued weakness in the subscriber base and adopt a more cautious stance on the outlook until clearer signs of recovery emerge,” TA Securities analyst Joram Isac S Ooi wrote in a note dated March 26.

“We remain cautious, as macroeconomic headwinds and subdued consumer sentiment could weigh on growth prospects and slow the progress of Astro’s transformation initiatives.”

Ooi downgraded Astro to a “sell” and trimmed his target price to seven sen from 11 sen after Astro’s FY1/2026 full-year core net profit came in at least 25% below expectations on higher-than-expected content costs and softer-than-expected contributions from the then newly launched TV packages.

Incidentally, the research report shows forecasts of Astro resuming dividend payment at 0.1 sen for FY1/2027, FY1/2028 and FY1/2029.

Dividends, share price recovery

Conserving ammunition to grow new revenue streams, Astro, which used to pay generous dividends every quarter, revised its dividend policy in FY1/2024 and has not declared a dividend for 11 straight quarters since the first quarter ended April 30, 2023 (1QFY1/2024). Astro was served with notices of additional tax from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) totalling RM734.88 million in July 2024 and reached a RM114.95 million settlement in April 2025.

Astro’s minority shareholders had previously questioned the board of directors on whether dividends will resume and whether recovery in earnings and share price would come.

Astro’s share price closed at six sen on June 11, translating into a market capitalisation of RM313.55 million — just a fraction of the RM15.59 billion it commanded at its Main Board relisting on Oct 19, 2012. It is also trading below its net asset value of 24.6 sen per share.

Astro is currently smaller than Media Prima Bhd (KL:MEDIA), which has a market capitalisation of RM321.67 million and operates four TV channels. Media Prima was valued at RM2.5 billion when Astro relisted, Bloomberg data showed.

The market capitalisation of Astro’s sister company Maxis Bhd (KL:MAXIS) had also halved to RM25.39 billion at the time of writing, from RM51.5 billion on Oct 19, 2012. Rival CelcomDigi Bhd saw its market capitalisation reduced to RM31.44 billion from RM42.6 billion over the same period. Meanwhile, incumbent broadband provider Telekom Malaysia has seen its market capitalisation grow to RM27.9 billion, from RM21.64 billion, over the same period.

The Employees Provident Fund chose to look for returns elsewhere when Astro trimmed dividends. It remains to be seen whether the presence of billionaire investor Tan Sri Chua Ma Yu among Astro’s top 30 shareholders list means Astro shares have been oversold. Not yet a substantial shareholder, Chua had a 1.91% stake, or 100 million Astro shares, as at April 30, 2026, according to Astro’s 2026 annual report, up from 0.7%, or 36.5 million shares, as at April 21, 2025.

It also remains to be seen whether Chua, like Warren Buffett, is being greedy while others are fearful. At six sen apiece, 100 million shares are only RM6 million — small change for Chua, but not for Astro’s minorities, especially those who came in at IPO. Whoever fills Astro’s GCEO seat looks to be in for a tough ride.

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