In a SMS to HyppTV customers, TM has revealed that all Astro channels will be removed from the IPTV service very soon. The same notification has also been made through its website and crawler messages on the affected channels.
Started with SuperSport and SuperSport 2 HD which was the result from the deal that both companies signed in 2013, the list of Astro channels on HyppTV were later expanded to include Awani, Oasis, Vaanavil, and Makkal TV. All these channels will be not available on HyppTV starting from 1 August 2016.
According to the FAQ at HyppTV’s website, the changes is due to the service’s continues effort to update its content offerings according to subscribers’ preferences. That being said, we recalled that the content sharing agreement between both companies is supposed to expire in 2016 anyway.
In other words, it could be that either TM didn’t want to renew the partnership with Astro or vice-versa. Hence, this somehow provide a better perspective on why TM is quite open to having partnerships with OTT players in order to grow its content offerings.
Meanwhile, TM has yet to announce any replacements for these Astro channels on HyppTY. Nevertheless, the company has promised that it will continue to inform HyppTV subscribers of any changes to the channels being offered on the IPTV service.
(Source: HyppTV)
