Astro looking pretty good

From the Edge:

Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd (Financial Dashboard), the country’s largest pay television provider, expects to see growth in its overall operations for its financial year ending Jan 31, 2016 (FY16), despite softer market conditions caused by factors such as the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) tomorrow and the weak ringgit against the US dollar.

The group saw its net profit jump 25.7% to RM139.97 million or 2.69 sen per share in the fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2015 (4QFY15) from RM111.39 million or 2.14 sen per share a year ago, driven by higher subscription and lower installation, marketing and distribution costs.

Astro looking pretty good.  In the media, people say content is king and apparently they are doing just fine.  It appears TM's attempt to take market share from Astro is not going as planned.

Subscriber numbers have gone up, revenue is up, and the costs of Astro subscription have gone up.

A natural monopoly is generally considered a strong investment characteristic.  The government has thrown all sorts of money at TM, but it appears they are not able to compete on the same level as Astro in the lucrative media division.