TM ties up with Astro unit to carry sports channel on HyppTV

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has signed a deal with Measat Broadcast Network Systems to broadcast its Astro SuperSport HD and Astro SuperSport 2 HD channels, which will include the widely-followed English Barclays Premier League (BPL), on TM's HyppTV service. Measat Broadcast Network is Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned unit. TM Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, said the collaboration would see HyppTV carry more sports content, effective today. He said TM acquired only selected BPL matches from Astro, and HyppTV would air six out of the 10 BPL matches on the Internet Protocol TV service (IPTV). "The additional sports content will definitely boost our existing sports package, in keeping with our promise to deliver the best to our viewers, they can still watch TV when it rains," he told reporters after signing the agreement here today. Zamzamzairani said HyppTV, the fastest-growing IPTV service in the market, has now expanded its reach from only UniFi subscribers to Streamyx's four-megabit per second (Mbps) and eight-Mbps users, making it accessible everywhere on multi-screen devices. "We are now having a promotion until end-September, whereby users can subscribe to our sports package for RM30 per month. For those who register after September, they will be charged RM50 per month. "For current customers who are already on the RM30 a month package, there will be no additional charges," he said. The IPTV service has a total of 110 channels, comprising 25 free-to-air channels, 49 premium channels, 16 video-on-demand genres as well as 20 interactive channels. Following today's event, HyppTV's sport package would now offer 13 channels.