Departure of 'Big Sister' may not hurt CH 7

Shocked by this news, advertising and media agencies, television production houses, competitors and its employees declined to comment, wanting to wait and see what happens next.

Though many sources in the local advertising industry believe that the reason for dumping Surang was a huge drop in the channel’s ratings, particularly for programmes that used to be the prime-time money-making machines for Channel 7, BBTV’s market share in terms of advertising expenditure through October was still growing, from 31 per cent in first quarter to 33 per cent in the third, according to an ACNielsen survey.
An analyst at CIMB Securities ( Thailand ) told The Nation there were two scenarios that might have caused this major reshuffle.

Scenario 1: Conflict among main shareholders might be getting so bad that Krit as major shareholder decided to end the role of Surang, who has a 20-per-cent stake in Channel 7 and has been in power for 26 years since the death of her elder brother, Chartchua Karnasuta. However, if this is true, BBTV could be a big loser if advertisers and television production houses lose confidence in the channel, while rivals such as BEC’s ThaiTV3, MCOT’s Modernine TV and the Royal Thai Army’s TV 5 seize the opportunity.

Scenario 2: This reshuffle had already been planned to prepare the channel for new challenges in the near future, including tougher competition from key rivals such as ThaiTV3, the switch from analogue to digital, an industry revamp after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission implements the broadcasting-frequency reallocation plan, and the blooming of the satellite TV business.

CIMB Securities ( Thailand )’s analyst added that the loss of Surang would have a short-term impact on the company despite the respect she enjoyed for her ability to turn a bland soap opera into a big hit and turn hapless actors and actresses into household names. He noted that a similarly surprising story happened at Total Access Communication (DTAC) when Thana Thienachariya, who had worked successfully for the country’s second-largest telecom for 15 years, decided to depart. But so far, DTAC is still a strong brand and with strong business performance.

Underlining this point, Nannapat Chotrattanakarn, trading and accountability director of Omnicom Media Group, told The Nation that Surang had been responsible only for soap operas for the past couple of years, while other Channel 7 programmes and connections with key production houses remain strong, so BBTV would retain its audience base.

A source at BBTV insisted that in the coming year, key programmes would remain unchanged, which would be good for all concerned – employees, business partners including advertisers and TV production houses, and its target audience. Thus it would be able to continue increasing its advertising rates, following the trend in the broadcasting industry.

Though some industry observers believe that Channel 7’s ratings will suffer a slight drop due to the flood crisis and the loss of two Workpoint Entertainment programmes to ThaiTV3, a media-agency source forecasts that there will be no change next year in terms of market-share ranking.