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 recently.
It is owned by (). Austar United was 81.5% owned by United Austar Partners, a partnership made up of a US-based company,
Liberty Global , and
Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP) , the remaining 19.5% of shares are traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.
In December 2005, CHAMP sold their share in the United Austar Partners partnership with Liberty Global purchasing up to 51.5% and the rest of CHAMP's shares being sold to institutional shareholders.
Austar also owns 50% of
XYZnetworks , a pay television program provider, a 50-50 joint venture between Foxtel and Austar.
Established in 2000, Austar Mobile offers mobile services via resale agreements with
Optus and
Telstra for access to their
GSM and
CDMA mobile networks respectivly.
At the end of 2004, there were about 30,000 customers.
Established in 2000, Austarnet currently outsources its network to
COMindico and is available across Australia.
At the end of 2004, there were about 49,000 customers
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 analog and digital platforms.
Austar Television is available in 2.4 million homes in regional areas of all mainland states (bar
Western Australia ), Tasmania & the capital cities of Darwin & Hobart. Subscriber numbers to Austar Television are second behind
Foxtel . Delivery methods include utlising 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
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.
''Note: this is the package. The Analog package is considerably diffrerent, and some channels are available only as add-ons to the standard Analog package. Some businesses (namely hotels and motels) take on a customized package, with some channels not included. Please check with
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- Entertainment
- ---W
- ---Arena
- --- Fox8
- ---FashionTV
- ---Expo Channel
- ---Fox Classics
- ---TV1
- ---TVSN
- ---The Lifestyle Channel
- Music
- ---Channel V
- ---CMC (Country Music Channel)
- ---Air
- ---Max
- Documentaries:
- ---The Discovery Channel
- ---National Geographic Channel
- ---ABC
- Sport
- ---Fox Sports 1
- ---Fox Sports 2
- ---Fox Footy Channel
- ---Sky Racing
- ---Eurosport News
- Kids
- ---The Disney Channel
- ---Nickeloden
- ---Cartoon Network
- News
- --- BBC World
- ---Sky News Australia
- ---The Weather Channel
- ---Bloomberg Television
- --- SBS
- ---CNBC Australia
- ---CNN
- --- Fox News Channel
- Pay-Per-View (pay by the event/movie, or per month):
- ---Main Event
- ---Box Office
- ---Adults Only Select
- ---TVN (Horse Racing)
- Laughter and Living
- ---The Comedy Channel
- ---Hallmark Channel
- ---Lifestyle Food
- ---How To Channel
- ---VH1
- ---UK TV
- ---Discovery Home & Health
- ---E!
- Quest and Adventure
- ---The History Channel
- ---A1
- ---Discover Travel & Living
- ---Discovery Science
- ---Ovation
- ---The Biography Channel
- ---Animal Planet
- Fun and Entertainment
- ---MTV
- ---ESPN
- ---Animal Planet
- ---Fuel
- ---Club V
- ---Nick Jr.
- ---Boomerang
- Showtime
- ---Showtime 1
- ---Showtime 2
- ---Showtime Greats
- ---World Movies
- ---TCM (Turner Classic Movies)
- Movie Network
- ---Movie One
- ---Movie One Take Two
- ---Movie Greats
- ---Movie Extra
- ---World Movies
- ---TCM (Turner Classic Movies)
- Games
- ---Mind Games
- ---Arcade
- ---Playin' TV
- Adults
- ---Adults Only
Channels on the Austar Digital service:
These are not available on Darwin cable.
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.
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.
