Malaysian digital DTH operator Astro signed up its 1 millionth subscriber May 12, becoming only the second DTH operator in the Asia-Pacific region, after Japan's Sky Perfect Communications, to pass the 1 million-subscriber mark. Overall, the Asia-Pacific region added 506,022 DTH subs in the six months to end-June, down 1.7% from the 514,742 subs that were added in 2H02, giving the region almost 7 million DTH subs as of end-1H03(see fig. 1). Astro's subscriber growth has been fueled by a combination of its box subsidies, the fact that it's the only pay TV player and its strong in-house programming. The Ananda Krish-nan-backed firm added more than 200,000 subs in the year to June. Elsewhere in the region, South Korean startup SkyLife, which began operations in March 2002, reached 780,000 subs at end-June, an increase of 460,000 in the 12-month period, and is targeting 1.25 million subs by year-end.
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