Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd expects up to five per cent of its existing customers to subscribe to its newly-launched A-List movie channel, said its chief operating officer, Henry Tan.

A-List premieres eight critically-acclaimed tittles a month from film international festivals such as the Busan International Film Festival, Berlinale Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, he said.

"A-List caters to customers which have a sophisticated taste in
international screens and are looking for movies with depth, thought-provoking themes and distinctive stories -- weaved together in cinematic art form," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the launching ceremony yesterday.

A-List will be available on Astro channel 456 from October 1, 2013 and will be priced at RM15 per month.

With the additional new channel, Astro currently has 172 channels and 38 high-definition (HD) channels.

Going forward, Tan said, the company will unveil the first Tamil HD channel in South-East Asia, Vinmeen, before Deepavali.-- Bernama