ASTRA CEO Petra Buchanan will not renew her contract which ends in September, to pursue new opportunities.

She will stay in the position until the end of March 2013.

Buchanan has been in the role since 2009.

ASTRA Chairman, Steve Bracks, said that Buchanan pioneered significant developments in the organisation across policy and regulation and raised the profile of the subscription TV industry.

“Under Petra’s leadership ASTRA has flourished as a professional organisation and representative for the STV industry. Her accomplishments have been impressive, providing transparency of STV, the contributions and investment in local content and the successes and attributes of our industry now all have a stronger voice. This increased profile demonstrates the credibility and relevance of STV in Australia that highlights how important ASTRA is for our market sector. We are delighted Petra will see the transition through until end of March 2013 and look forward to building on her significant contribution during her time as CEO of ASTRA,” he said.

Buchanan has been involved with policy developments, Government reviews, including STV’s input to the Convergence Review, new legislation of captioning and issues regarding spectrum access.

“My time with ASTRA has coincided with enormous change, and has been one of the most exciting roles in my 20 year career working in television, technology as well as digital industries,” she said.

“I am pleased to have grown the reputation and influence of ASTRA at a time of great change in the media and television sector. I have achieved what I set out to do and am proud of the accomplishments made during my leadership at ASTRA.

“I am particularly proud of the professionalism and innovations I have brought to the role and look forward to integrating my successor into the STV industry so they too can offer significant contributions.”.