Astro Ria is Malaysian pay television network exclusive to the Astro satellite television provider. It was one of the first 22 channels to be launched on Astro in 1996. Astro Ria offers a variety of shows including news, Indonesian drama Malaysia, movies, reality shows, sports, talk shows, cartoons, concerts, sitcoms, documentaries, cooking shows, quizzes and more. Astro Ria is a 24-hour Bahasa Malaysia television channel operating on Astro network satellite service. Channels that have started since Astro was launched on June 1, 1996, can be followed on channel 104 and on Kristal-Astro for Brunei broadcast. Channel changes were made from October 1, 2007, after Astro introduced a 3-digit channel. The channel is under the Astro Family package with other Malay channels like, Astro Oasis and channel Indonesian and Bahasa Malaysia, Astro Aruna. In 2003, Astro Ria launched a show based from Mexican TV seriesLa Academia, called Akademi Fantasia. The contest pits 12 singers in a bid to become the winner. The show became so popular in Malaysia and Brunei that spin-off versions were made in Indonesia and Thailand. A second season was made, which enabled Brunei viewers to vote as well. In its third season, 14 contestants instead of the original 12 were competing for the competition and the winner, Mawi became an instant music celebrity. A fourth season started in May 2006. Astro Ria also hosts various prestigious annual events in the entertainment world such as the Era Awards broadcast, the Malaysian Film Festival, the Space Series Awards and also aired UMNO General Assembly live from the Putra World Trade Center. In May 2002, Astro Ria launched BloombergRIA News, which was essentially the Malay-language version of Bloomberg News Malaysia. The news was aired at 10:45 pm on weekdays. Its first anchor was Amir Mahmood Razak, who eventually also presented for the English version. The show was produced by Amy Mahadi. Bloomberg TV and Astro's co-operation was dissolved in 2004, and the news programming became known as Berita Astro. Berita Astro ceased production at the end of January 2007 and later launched a new news division, in which Astro Awani was launched in September 2007. Its main news programAwani 7:45 was also simulcasted on this channel every day at 7:45 pm MST. Singtel TV is currently broadcasting this channel on Channel 608 as Singtel TV has been using the 3-digit since the launch of FOX International Channels through Singtel TV.
