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Austar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Austar Pty Ltd | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Public |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Sydney, New South Wales Gold Coast, Queensland |
| Key people | John Porter, CEO Mike Fries, Chairman |
| Industry | Pay TV, Broadcasting, Telecommunications |
| Products | Austar Pay Television Austarnet Austar Mobile |
Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Pay TV, although it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones. The company commenced operations in 1995, and thus celebrated its 10th birthday in 2005. Austar's current slogan is "You'll love what's on!"[1][2]
It is owned by Austar United Communications Limited (ASX: AUN). 54% of Austar United is owned by Liberty Global, through United Austar Partners. The remaining 46% is owned by public shareholders [3]
Austar also owns 50% of XYZnetworks, a pay television program provider, a 50-50 joint venture between Foxtel and Austar. [4][5]
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Established in 2000, Austar Mobile offers mobile services via resale agreements with Optus and Telstra for access to their GSM and CDMA mobile networks respectively.
At the end of 2005, there were about 30,500 customers. [6]
Established in 2000, Austarnet currently outsources its network to COMindico and is available across Australia.
At the end of 2005, there were about 38,326 customers. [7]
Austar's main business is subscription television, serving customers outside of the major metro areas. It takes programming from both Foxtel and Optus services, and operates in both analogue and digital platforms.
Austar Television is available in 2.4 million homes in regional and rural areas of all mainland states (bar Western Australia), Gold Coast, Tasmania & the capital cities of Darwin & Hobart, although in the latter Foxtel is also available.[citation needed] Subscriber numbers to Austar Television are second behind Foxtel. Delivery methods include utilising the Optus C-Class Satellite Optus C1 and a digital cable network in Darwin
Launched in March 2004, Austar Digital subscribers account for about 75% of all of Austar's Television Subscribers. In October 2004 the cable network utilised in Darwin was converted to allow the Austar Digital product to be sold over that delivery method. In December 2006 it was reported that Austar was in talks with Channels Seven and Ten about providing AFL coverage to rural areas.[citation needed]
Announced in November 2005, Thomson SA have been awarded the contract for the development of a 4 tuner PDR, two of which will be dedicated for Australia's Digital Terrestrial free-to-air (FTA) service. MyStar will also allow for recording of two shows at one time, while still being able to watch one pre-recorded.
Mr. Porter had announced that the MyStar personal digital recorder has been delayed back to August 2007 rather than the May 2007 release date they had planned. [8] However Subscribers who have already signed up on the waiting list will be able to buy the personal digital recorder MyStar as of November 2007, before the commercial launch in 2008. This has been reported as the first quarter of 2008, and later reported as January 2008. The Mystar will cost $49.95 to install and $14.95 extra per month per mystar.[9] The install costs will cover a service technician coming out to the premises, delivering the Mystar PVR, setting it up, and installing a second cable from the satellite to the PVR. This installation fee will apply when moving house (on top of normal Austar relocation charges) even if you are moving into a dwelling that has previously had Mystar installed.
The MyStar was released in November, 2007, to people who nominated to be informed when it was released. At present, the FTA tuner does not work, although the shows appear in the TV Guide.
It records around 60 hours of video on its 160GB Hard Drive, 120GB of which is used for recording.[10]
In 2005, Austar United and wireless internet provider Unwired announced a deal to swap spectrum under either companies control to allow for interoperable wireless broadband services across the country. In 2006, Austar United and Unwired together with Soul formed AUSalliance for the purposes of obtaining funding from the Australian Government's Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program and rolling out a regional broadband network[11].
Austar holds a considerable number of 2.5 & 3.5 GHz spectrum licences that they have purchased for delivery of their former MMDS Service and for an ill-fated attempt at wireless internet through a joint-venture with Chello. The deal will also allow WIMAX wireless services to commence in Australia.
Austar Broadband has launched wireless (non-WIMAX) services in:
- June 2006 - Service launched in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales [12]
- November 2006 - Service launched in Tamworth, New South Wales [13]
- End 2007 - Further 24 markets
- ^ Austar Homepage and Logo (accessed 2007-09-06)
- ^ AUSTAR United - About Us - Our Services (accessed 2007-09-06)
- ^ Austar United Website: http://www.austarunited.com.au/aboutus/ownership.asp
- ^ XYZnetworks Website: http://www.xyznetworks.com.au/xyznetworks/About.aspx
- ^ Austar United 2005 Annual Report
- ^ Austar United 2005 Annual Report
- ^ Austar United 2005 Annual Report
- ^ http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/austar-tunes-in-with-earnings-lift/2007/04/18/1176696914501.html
- ^ www.austar.com.au/mystar
- ^ http://www.austar.com.au/mystar/mystar_um.zip
- ^ Austar United Press Release: http://www.austarunited.com.au/pdf/06-03-29%20AUSTAR%20_%20Soul%20partner%20for%20regional%20b'dband%20network.pdf
- ^ Austar United Press Release: http://www.austarunited.com.au/pdf/06-06-08%20AUSTAR%20Broadband%20launch%20release%20-%20final.pdf
- ^ Austar United Press Release: http://www.austarunited.com.au/pdf/06-11-28%20AUSTAR%20broadband%20arrives%20in%20Tamworth.pdf
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| Cable television: | Adams Cable · Adelphia · Armstrong Telephone Company · Austar · Bright House Networks · Buckeye CableSystem · CableOne · Cable TV Hong Kong · Cablevision (U.S.) · Cablevision (Canada) · Canal Digital · Charter · Champion Broadband · Cogeco · Columbus Communications · Comcast · Com Hem · Cox · DartyBox · Eastlink · EMBARQ · Fastweb (Italy) · Foxtel · GCI · Global Destiny · Globosat · Hathway · HOT · Insight · Kabel Deutschland · Knology · MASTV · MCV Broadband · Mediacom · Midcontinent Communications · Millennium Digital Media · Neighbourhood Cable · Net Brasil · NTL · Ono · Optus · Persona · Qwest Choice TV · RCS&RDS · RCN · Rogers · Royal (Philippines) · Satview Broadband Ltd · Service Electric · SkyCable · Shaw · Smallworld · StarHub CableTV · Suddenlink · Telenet (Belgium) · TDC · Tele Columbus (Germany) · Tele2 · Telmarc (Philippines) · TelstraClear InHomeTV · Time Warner · TransACT · TrueVisions · TV Cabo · TVTEL · UPC Romania · Vidéotron · Virgin Media · WOW! · WightCable |
| Satellite television: | AlphaStar · ART · Astro · Astro Nusantara · Athina Sat · Austar · Bell ExpressVu · Boom TV · Canal Digital · Canal Digitaal Satelliet · CanalSat · Cyfra+ · DD Direct Plus · DialogTV · Digi TV · Digital+ · Digiturk · DirecTV · Dish Network · Dish TV · Dolce · Dream Satellite TV · DStv · Euro1080 · Focus Sat · Freesat · Freesat from Sky · Freeview (NZ) · Foxtel · GlobeCast World TV · Globosat · Glorystar · HiTV · Indovision · Home2US · Kristal-Astro · Max TV · N (Poland) · NTV Plus · NOVA Cyprus · NOVA Greece · Orbit · Premiere · PrimeStar · SelecTV · Showtime Arabia · Sky Angel · Sky Digital · SKY Italia · SkyLife · Sky PerfecTV! · Sky TV (NZ) · Star Choice · STAR TV · Tata Sky · TPS · TrueVisions · TV Cabo · TVTEL · TV Vlaanderen Digitaal · UBI World TV · Viasat · Voom · WOWOW · yes |
| IPTV: | Aliant TV · Alice Home TV (Italy) · Belgacom · BT Vision · Canal Digital · Clix · DartyBox · Fastweb (Italy) · Free · Fine TV · iNES · ITVN · Imagenio · mio TV · Neuf · now TV · Orange · Portugal Telecom · Telus TV · Tiscali TV UK · TPG IPTV · TeliaSonera · TrueIPTV · T-com Hrvatska · U-verse · VDC · Viasat |
| Terrestrial television: | Boxer (Sweden) · Doordarshan · Freeview (NZ) · Freeview (UK) · MiTV · Multi-Choice TV (Barbados) · PlusTV (Finland) · RiksTV (Norway) · Télévision Numérique Terrestre (France) · Top Up TV · Sky Picnic |
| Fiber-Optic: | Verizon FiOS |
Categories: Companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | Australian television channels | Companies established in 1995 | Australian television networks | Australian subscription television services | Media companies of Australia | Entertainment companies of Australia