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In globalize era like today, watching television is a habit to almost every individual in the world. While the amount of satellite television provider is increasing in oversea, Astro is still the one and only satellite television provider available in Malaysia with the subscriber base of 3.1 million. As a result of Astro’s monopoly in Malaysia’s satellite television industry, viewers in the country do not have the chance to choose their desired satellite television provider.
Astro is able to monopolize Malaysia’s satellite television industry because they are the only company that gets the permission and license to broadcast by the government of Malaysia. Due to Astro’s monopoly, they have the ability to set the price of their service because they are the price maker in the industry. Being the price maker, Astro has caused dissatisfaction from their subscribers because of the high price they set with limited choice of service package to choose from. In the package the subscribers purchased, there are always some channels that they are not interested in but are made to pay for it.
Due to the barriers to entry, it is very difficult to stop Astro’s monopoly in the satellite television industry of Malaysia. There is always a new firm fails to enter the industry because the initial investment to enter is very high. The new firm would have to purchase their own satellite which will cost them millions. Even if there is a firm that has sufficient capital for their initial investment, they still failed to enter Malaysia’s satellite television industry because of the directive of government.
In my opinion, the government of Malaysia should give permission to new firms and encourage them to enter the satellite television industry in Malaysia to end Astro’s monopoly after so many years. If the monopoly of Astro is ended and there is more firms providing satellite television service in Malaysia, the price of the service will fall and the viewers will have more choice to choose from.
