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Shabery (standing, 2nd from right) witnessing the signing ceremony between Tunku Imran and Rohana Rozhan (seated left and right respectively), while Ralph Marshall (2nd from left), and Datuk Dr M Jegathesan (right) look on.
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19th March, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: The birth of Astro Arena will give the sporting fraternity in the country the much-needed boost, as Astro now is seen to be taking the lead in broadcasting local sporting events.
In fact this is a much-awaited moment, not only for the sporting fraternity, but the public as well, as Astro Arena will give in-depth coverage of local sporting events round the clock and will be delivered predominantly in Bahasa Malaysia and available to all Astro customers under its Family Package.
The country’s first local sports channel (Channel 801) was launched yesterday, and will go on air on March 26.
Dato Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Youth and Sports and Ralph Marshall, Group Chief Executive Officer AAAN (Astro) graced the launch event and witnessed the signing of the Strategic Alliance between Astro and the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) held at MOM Building yesterday.
Both Astro and OCM will collaborate and promote Malaysian sporting events regionally and internationally through the broadcast of these events on Astro Arena.
Dato Rohana Rozhan, Chief Executive Officer of Measat Broadcast Network Systems, represented Astro while Tunku Tan Sri Imran Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Jaa’far, President of OCM represented OCM in the signing.
Both Shabery and Tunku Imran lauded Astro’s moves, and insisted that the birth of Astro Arena is giving Malaysian sports a new lift.
Shabery also commended Astro Arena for its role in helping to broadcast local sports which supports the government’s aspiration to instill sporting excellence and promote healthy sporting lifestyle amongst Malaysians.
“The launch of Astro Arena is timely and in line with the Ministry of Education’s recent announcement in making sports as a school subject, as opposed to a co-curriculum activity.
“Astro Arena through its content and on-ground events can further help develop a strong local sports identity among local communities and motivate the younger generation to take up sports.
He said the future of Malaysian sports depends largely on coverage from the media to reach the masses while sports itself had contributed tremendously to the economy of the country.
“Sports is a huge industry and has its own economic sectors and provides a platform for sports science experts, athletes, sports insurance companies to earn big money,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tunku Imran said: “We are happy to be working together with Astro to provide more opportunities for the national sports associations and other local sporting bodies to have their sports news and events viewed by a bigger audience on Astro’s platform. We hope Astro Arena will further boost the growth of the local sports industry and talents.”
On the other hand, Rohana said it is their continuous effort to be the No 1 choice for Malaysian households.
“Astro is committed to invest towards expanding and strengthening our products through the introduction of innovative features such as High Definition (HD) services, digital video recording and IPTV connectivity.
“In our content and customer experience, Astro continues to be ahead of the curve by evolving with innovation to deliver a strong sports value proposition of bringing the best of international and local sports to Malaysian sports fans.
“Astro Arena meets the unfulfilled demand for local sports content via a holistic offering of live coverage of major regional and local sporting events, in-depth and extensive news coverage of matches and development of sports and athletes in Malaysia.
She also revealed that Astro Arena will be run on a RM250 million budget over the next five years.
Rohana also said Malaysians are able to follow the nation’s sporting heroes closely and see how they fare in some of the regional sports events on Astro Arena, especially in the upcoming events this year such as the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Asian Games in Guangzhou and the first Youth Olympics in Singapore.
In making sports more appealing to the younger generation, she said Astro Arena has appointed Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Esther Cheah, Daniel Bego, Mohd. Hazizul Hasni Awang, R. Puvaneswaran, Mohd Aidil Zafuan, Mohd Zaquan Adha and P. Mariappan as channel ambassadors.
These ambassadors Rohana added will be involved in sports clinics and road shows to bring Astro Arena closer to the community. Alongside the live coverage of sports news and events, the channel will also feature stories of Malaysian sporting heroes to relive the past glories of sports.
Astro Arena completes Astro’s Family Package with sports offering alongside entertainment, information and education.
With Astro Arena, currently there are 29 ASTRO branded and affiliated channels and 10 sports channels, including 2 channels in High Definition and 1 channel for sports pay-per-view on the Astro platform.
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