ACE Doubles Down on Anti-piracy in Asia-Pacific, Adding Broadcasting Powerhouse Astro as its Newest Member
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world's leading antipiracy coalition, today welcomed Malaysia-based Astro as its newest member.
Astro, a leading content and entertainment broadcasting company in Malaysia, was established in 1996 and has since built a comprehensive entertainment ecosystem that includes both pay and free-to-access TV services and OTT platforms. Currently, Astro reaches approximately 64% of Malaysian households.
Astro holds an extensive library of more than 100,000 VOD titles, ranging from exclusive Astro Originals to major live sports events, while also offering over 147 live channels featuring both local and international brands.
"Bringing Astro into ACE reaffirms our commitment to detect, deter, and dismantle criminal piracy throughout the Asia Pacific region and around the world," said Charles Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE. "Astro is already a key player and partner in the fight against piracy – educating Malaysian consumers, advancing landmark legal precedents, and fostering effective collaboration between industry and government. Now, Astro's work will grow in Malaysia and ACE's leadership will expand across the globe, delivering even greater safety and security to content creators and consumers everywhere."
Astro is part of the Malaysian Cybercrime Task Force, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, where it leads efforts on tackling digital piracy within the task force.
"For us at Astro, fighting piracy is not just to safeguard our bottom line but rather to protect the value of creativity and the people who bring stories to life," said Euan Smith, Group CEO of Astro. "We have seen how damaging piracy can be, which is why we have taken real action: over 26,000 listings of illegal streaming devices and services removed, 327 Telegram piracy groups with 12 million subscribers shut down, and significant legal wins to set strong precedents. By joining ACE, we're stepping into a larger arena. This collaboration gives us the strength of a global alliance while ensuring local voices and creators are safeguarded. We want to ensure audiences have a better, safer, and more rewarding way to enjoy the content they love."
Astro's addition to the alliance marks the third APAC region member to join ACE since the start of the year, underscoring the region's importance to the global coalition.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world's leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal creative market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation, and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and unauthorized content sources and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world—including sports channels and associations—and reinforced by the Motion Picture Association's content protection operations, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drives the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV+, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE.
About Astro
Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro) is Malaysia's leading content and entertainment company, serving 5.2 million homes or 64% of Malaysian TV households, 8,900 enterprises, 16.3 million weekly listeners across FM radio and online, and 13.5 million visitors to our digital brands every month. We serve Malaysians with 3 distinct services – Astro Pay-TV, NJOI Prepaid and sooka, our own OTT for the millennials; and Astro Fibre, our own broadband service, offers greater value with its content-broadband bundles. More than a million homes are already streaming the best of home entertainment via our Hybrid 4K UHD Ultra Box and HD Ulti Box, which can be self-installed and run on both satellite and broadband. Today, our customers enjoy streaming our local signatures, Astro Originals, live sports and the best global shows from Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, HBO GO, iQIYI, TVBAnywhere+, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, BBC Player, Viu, ZEE5, WeTV, Qalbox by MuslimPro, and our own TV companion app Astro GO. Astro Radio, home to the country's highest-rated radio brands across all key languages, and our digital brands including AWANI, SYOK, Gempak, Xuan and Astro Ulagam, connect Malaysians to content and stories that matter.
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