Shares of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) declined in today's trading session following reports that Disney would shut down most of its television broadcasts in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong as part of the company's efforts to further expand its streaming services.
At the time of this writing, Astro was down 3 sen or 2.8% to RM1.04 with about 1.12 million shares traded with the company's market capitalization of RM5.58 billion.
Meanwhile, TM declined five sen or 0.86% to RM5.76 with about 429,000 shares traded, bringing the market capitalization to RM21.9 billion.
Astro and TM declined to comment further on the latest developments and said they would issue a statement on the matter.
According to a Channel News Asia report, The Walt Disney Company has announced that it will close its Media Networks business in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to focus on its streaming services.
Regarding the latest development, media analysts from a local research firm said the situation was a positive development for Astro as the company was able to save on content costs following the closure of Disney's television broadcast.
“The current broadcasting business is that pay TV providers have to pay for channels and content from their owners.
“Astro could use the funds from the cost of the content to invest in its own content for its upcoming streaming services,” the analyst said.
Meanwhile, another media analyst said the latest development will not affect Astro as the number of viewers for some Disney content on Astro is low.
“Not many people realize that some Disney content on Astro is not highly rated or watched compared to local content. Actually, cartoon Astro Malay in more highly rated and watched the Disney masterpiece. This applies to audience demographics and their preferences.
“In addition, some English content is so much pirated. So in the end, if the content is pirated, what is the value to Astro, ”explained the analyst.
