Recent media reports have revealed shifts in consumers’ viewing behaviors as the COVID-19 situation evolves, with individuals and families spending more time at home, which has resulted in a spike in linear TV viewing in terms of penetration and time spent across multiple markets and all generations.
News channels and programs have seen a surge in viewership as news updates and government announcements on new regulations and the pandemic development become profoundly important to the public. During this period of uncertainty, satellite continues to be a reliable and cost effective means for content delivery, serving audiences nationally and abroad with critical and timely news and information.
As Asia’s leading provider of broadcast platforms, AsiaSat strives to meet consumers’ evolving demand for content and viewing quality. Among the 550 TV and radio channels originated from more than 30 countries and regions in 30 languages delivered by the AsiaSat fleet, more than 80 are news channels, with 60 percent of them in local languages targeting local markets as well as expatriates and travelers who want to stay abreast of the happenings in their home countries.
Over the past year, the number of HDTV channels increased across AsiaSat’s core video satellites AsiaSat 5 and AsiaSat 7, as well as its new video hotbird AsiaSat 9 at 122 degrees E. These HDTV channels have included the Asian Action Channel, CTI Asia, ET Mall, PILI TV, Trace Sport Stars, Trace Urban, TVB Xing He and tvN Movies on AsiaSat 9 plus a selection of Warner Media’s bouquet of regional HD channels on AsiaSat 7 that include CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Warner TV, raising the share of HDTV services to 30 percent across the AsiaSat fleet.
Ina Lui, SVP, Commercial, Business Development and Strategy of AsiaSat, said that while committed to protecting the safety and health of the firm’s employees during this difficult period, the company will continue supporting customers to deliver high-quality and uninterrupted services to their audiences, even as demand for TV content surges unpredictably. With AsiaSat’s growing HDTV services and wide-ranging news and entertainment programming, the company is delighted to demonstrate satellite’s ability to multi-cast high resolution content, particularly over vast geographical areas and with a growing population of receive antennas, which is more resilient in coping with unexpected soaring demand for services than streaming TV services that were required to lower streaming quality at times of network congestion.
Artistic rendition of the AsiaSat-9 satellite.