Malaysian media platform Astro has made peace with the country’s national broadcaster, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), rolling back a clash widely believed to have contributed to Group CEO Euan Smith’s sudden departure earlier in June.

The big question going into the finals of the FIFA World Cup in July is whether Astro can sub-license some of the matches from rights holders – RTM and Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi.

Bets are now being made on Tan’s ability to pull off a last-minute deal for access to the World Cup final matches in July.

Friday’s reversal follows at least two months of high anxiety over Astro’s relationship with Malaysia’s media powers. 

In early May, Astro lost its 20-year hold on the World Cup to a private-government partnership between RTM and Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi. 

Astro framed the result as a cost issue, saying the landscape for premium content – particularly sports – “has changed significantly”, and that it couldn’t justify the investment. 

The government contribution to the World Cup campaign came in at RM24 million (US$6 million), according to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil. 

The loss was seen as part of the same environment that led to the collapse of the RTM channels carriage negotiations in May. An RTM exit would have ended a 30-year relationship. 

RTM announced the breakdown of negotiations and the result on 11 May, on the letterhead of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. The official reason given was that the two failed to agree on pricing and contract terms. 

At the time, the statement (and the optics) put the industry on high alert for further political messaging.  

The 11th-hour save came a few days ahead of RTM’s intended 1 July exit. 

Friday’s announcement came exactly 10 days after former Group CEO Henry Tan returned as interim head. The announcement was carried in Bahasa Malaysia on Astro’s corporate newsroom.  

Tan’s most urgent task was likely to repair the relationship with the powerful government body before larger commercial issues are tackled. As the hunt for a new CEO continues, those problems may not land in his lap. 

For now, the repair is partial. RTM free-TV channels TV1, TV2 and Okey (previously known as Muzik Aktif and TVi) remain on Astro’s primary platform as well as on streaming service Sooka and free-TV platform NJOI. 

Three other services – RTM News, sports network Sukan+ and RTM’s radio network – will be added “in the near future”.  

The key for World Cup watchers is Sukan+, which carries the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

In Friday’s joint message, RTM and Astro used language that sweetened their reversal. 

They talked about a “strengthened partnership” and committed to joint projects to develop local content as well as ensuring “continued access to quality content at affordable prices without placing an additional financial burden on Malaysians”.