Austar United Communications Ltd

Synopsis

Austar United Communications is Australia’s second largest subscription TV operator after Foxtel. The company offers primarily digital satellite services to customers in regional and rural areas. It also offers dial-up Internet and mobile telephone services. AUSTAR is the sole provider of subscription television services in substantially all of its markets – regional and rural Australia, and capital cities Hobart and Darwin. Its service area comprises around 2.4 million homes, around one-third of the Australian market, primarily using digital satellite technology. AUSTAR also operates a digital cable network in Darwin.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
  
• 2. Company Information
  
  • 2.1 Ownership – Liberty Media
    
• 3. Operating results
  
• 4. Financial results
  
• 5. Historical financial results
  
  • 5.1 Financial results 2007
    
• 6. Network
  
• 7. Network rollout and alliances
  
  • 7.1 Wireless broadband alliance with unwired
    
  • 7.2 Loss of Connect Australia bid
    
  • 7.3 AUSTAR selects Nortel to provide WiMAX to regional Australia
    
  • 7.4 Bundling agreement with Telstra
    
  • 7.5 AUSTAR agreement with Optus
    
• 8. Company analyses
  
  • 8.1 Strategy overview – mid 2009
    
  • 8.2 AUSTAR’s future in new media
    
• 9. Subsidiaries – XYZnetworks
  
• 10. Services
  
  • 10.1 TV, Internet and mobile
    
  • 10.2 PDR – MyStar
    
  • 10.3 Interactive services
    
• 11. Company history
  
• 12. Related reports
  

• Table 1 – AUSTAR subscribers by service – 1996 - 2009
• Table 2 – AUSTAR monthly subscriber churn – 2002; 2005 - 2008
• Table 3 – AUSTAR revenue – 1996 - 2009
• Table 4 – AUSTAR ARPU – 2004 - 2008

• Exhibit 1 – Austar United Communications at a glance