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ASTRA keen to sign Stan, welcome Netflix.

Exclusive: ASTRA is keen to shake off misconceptions it only represents Foxtel, and would welcome incoming SVOD players to its membership base.

2014-11-17_2038EXCLUSIVE: Subscription TV association ASTRA is keen to see more SVOD players including Stan, and potentially Netflix, as new members.

The the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association has already begun signing up new members: Cisco, Pace, Globecast, BCA, Holding Redlich.

While events like the ASTRA Awards see Foxtel platform channels dominate nominees, not all of them are Foxtel owned-and-operated channels. As the landscape continues to evolve ASTRA is keen to broaden its membership base to ensure it properly represents the entire subscription media sector, and not just Foxtel.

CEO Andrew Maiden told TV Tonight, “Many people don’t realise some of the content they watch on Foxtel is produced by independent media companies like Disney, Viacom, NBC Universal and Discovery. These companies all have a presence in Australia, investing and creating local jobs. While their interests usually overlap with Foxtel, they sometimes have extra policy priorities of their own. That’s why more than 20 of them are already members of ASTRA, along with a number of suppliers and service providers to the industry. We now have 29 members all up.

“ASTRA membership is open to any media company with a subscription-based business model. We are the subscription media association, after all.

“As new platforms like Stan and Netflix enter the market, ASTRA will of course seek to represent them on the understanding they share the agenda of our current members. That would mean supporting the development of the overall industry, encouraging local content, advocating free competition, supporting tougher piracy laws, and arguing for fairer access to public funds that subsidise local productions.”

Nominations for the ASTRA Awards close November 28.

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