Astro yesterday has officially launched the Ultra Plug & Play Box which allows users to enjoy its services without the need of a satellite dish. However, certain TV channels are not accessible through the box for non-Astro Broadband subscribers.

In other words, these TV channels will be off-limits to you when your Ultra Plug & Play Box is being connected through other ISPs such as unifi, TIME Internet, standalone Maxis Fibre, and others. Here is the full list of the affected channels:

• BabyTV
• FOX Action Movies HD
• FOX Family Movies HD
• FOX HD
• FOX Movies Premium HD
• FOXlife HD
• FX HD
• Nat Geo People HD
• Nat Geo Wild HD
• National Geographic Channel
• NHK World
• Sky News HD
• Star Chinese Channel HD

However, NHK World is not available via Ultra Plug & Play Box regardless of the ISP. Similarly, this also applies to all radio stations including those owned by Astro itself such as Hitz, Mix, Lite, Era, Sinar, My, Melody, THR Gegar, and THR Raaga.

Aside from NHK World and Sky News HD, the majority of the TV channels in the list belonged to Disney via its subsidiary Fox Networks Group which means some of them are actually already on their way out from Astro. As you may have heard, the company has planned to discontinue a huge chunk of their channels in Southeast Asia this coming October except for BabyTV, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic Channels, and Star Chinese Channel.

Meanwhile, Astro has noted that the reason behind the unavailability of these TV channels is due to licensing rights although we do find it is odd that similar restrictions were also imposed on Astro-owned radio stations. To learn more about the new Ultra Plug & Play Box, check out Astro’s official website right here.

(Source: Astro.)