Astro's head of sports Lee Choong Khay departs, Nicholas John steps up

Astro has appointed executive producer Nicholas John to replace Lee Choong Khay as VP and head of sports, following Lee's announcement to undertake a new regional senior position. In his new role, John (pictured) will be reporting to director of content, Agnes Rozario. According to his LinkedIn, John will be leading the strategy and operations for local and international sports content on Astro. 

John first joined Astro in July 2010 where he helmed the senior sports producer role for more than four years. Afterwhich, he helmed the executive producer role in July 2014 for more than five years. As an executive producer, John was responsible for leading the sports production team in content creation for TV and digital. In addition to providing local coverage for international sports events, John has also spearheaded the launch of Astro Arena 2. The Astro Arena 2 targets at increasing the relevance of sports coverage to younger sports enthusiasts. His latest addition to Astro Arena 2 is titled, Jangan Kanjiong and headlined by former shuttler and star, Tan Boon Heong. According to Astro, Jangan Kanjiong made waves on social media, leading to a high viewership on TV and positive digital engagement amongst Millennials. 

Before Astro, John spent close to four years in cable sports channel, ESPN Star Sports as its senior sports producer. In fact, it was his experience in ESPN that raised the bar for Astro's sports production, successfully activating the football experience to be on par with other companies globally, said Astro. A+M has reached out to Astro for additional information regarding John's role. While Lee has yet to divulge his regional senior role, group CEO of Astro, Henry Tan said the company was extremely proud and grateful for Lee's achievements. Lee has mentored and worked with John for over 10 years, and the company is confident that John will continue to put Astro at the forefront of sports content, added Tan. A+M has reached out to Astro for additional information regarding John's new role and Lee's regional role. 

Meanwhile, Astro has launched a search for an assistant VP, head of marketing and digital business on October to lead the eGG Network brand and community, building strategies across all channels. Based in Kuala Lumpur, the appointed individual will be responsible for designing and implementing comprehensive marketing and communications strategies. This is to create awareness of eGG Network B2B and B2B activities in the region. Formerly known as Astro SuperSport Plus, eGG Network is a Malaysia pay television channel that focuses on esports and broadcasts electronic games tournaments globally. 

Also on the leadership front, Astro's sooka appointed Awin Roslin to AVP, content marketing, OTT. She was most recently AVP, marketing at Astro Radio, joining late in 2019 from iflix where she was head of marketing, Malaysia. "I am honestly excited to be back doing content marketing, especially in video on demand (VOD) because I have always believed my strength lies in telling stories to the audience. As much as I am stoked to be back doing VOD, I am also curious to see where this will take me," Awin said.

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