Astro AWANI is a Malaysian news organization that broadcasts its news on Astro channel 501. Since 2018, Astro AWANI has been consistently ranked as Malaysia's most trusted news source in the Reuters Digital News Report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Launched on September 6, 2007, AWANI has since become a household news brand among Malaysians as a channel for breaking news. It airs a variety of programs including newsletters, business and current events, special interviews, investigative reports, variety programs, and select magazine shows.
Its signature programs include AWANI 7:45 (Prime Time News), Agenda AWANI (current affairs programme), Bulletin AWANI (hourly bulletins throughout the day), AWANI Pagi (morning entertainment show), Niaga AWANI (business and finance), Consider This (current events in English), Notebook with Ibrahim Sani (finance, markets and technology) and Dialog Tiga Penjuru (displaying current events in a forum/debate format).
Astro AWANI's live channel is available regardless of location through its website (www.astroawani.com), dedicated Astro AWANI app and Youtube Live. He has a strong presence on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, TikTok, Linked In and Telegram.
In 2002, the channel was launched as The News Channel (Astro News). Al Jazeera (broadcast in Arabic with live dub in Malaysian), BBC World, CCTV-9, Eurosport News, Australia Network and Deutsche Welle programs were broadcast during this time. It also aired Astro News, a locally produced half-hour news program.
Since then, the five networks airing on this channel have been made available separately. Until February 2007, Astro News was co-produced with the national news agency Bernama. The news is also translated into Chinese on Astro AEC, Malaysian on Astro Ria and Tamil on Astro Vaanavil. English news was also broadcast on Astro Prima.
Astro Awani was first launched on June 15, 2006 in Indonesia by a joint venture between Astro and India's NDTV. However, due to ongoing disagreements between the JV partners, the Indonesian version went off the air in October 2008.
On September 6, 2007, Astro Awani was launched in Malaysia at the Palace of the Golden Horses.
In 2008, Astro AWANI was renumbered from channel 123 to channel 501.
In 2018, Astro AWANI was voted the "Most Trusted" Malaysian News Brand in the Reuters Institute's Digital News Report [4] and has since consistently received this recognition throughout 2019, 2020 and 2021.