Why we should allow Astro to fail
The media giant has been struggling but has itself to blame for its woes.
First post in February. Some housekeeping: I’ll be removing the sections Playbook and News, ideas and everything in between. Just dawned on me to keep things simple. That’s one.
The other thing is that I wanted to launch a Southeast Asian-focused section called Strait & Sea (S&S) but that, too, is on the backburner.
I own the dotcom, so there’s no rush to push out a regional publication yet. I still need to grow this little space into something more robust to the point where not only I can make a living but also afford to hire a writer or two.
That said, there is no change to content and editorial direction. In many ways, last week’s feature on eFishery would be what I want to do for S&S. And there’ll be more of that as we chug along 2025.
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Astro group chief executive officer (GCEO) Euan Daryl Smith was on BFM’s Breakfast Grille on Tuesday.
I found it amusing that the chief executive of a legacy media company riffed plans on radio. I mean, who was he even trying to reach with that interview?
Anyway, the session was straightforward. Smith, who was appointed to the job in February, 2023, tackled questions on why Astro is now on the back foot, plans in the pipeline to boost revenue and profit and also a call to Big Brother to step in since little brother’s monopoly is moot.
A common theme with these legacy firms — the other one crying for government intervention is national courier Pos Malaysia.
While Smith’s interview did give some insight into Astro’s woes — which you could also read elsewhere — the GCEO confirmed what I have been thinking all this while about the media giant: that content creation is not in the firm’s DNA.