MCOT firm on revenue target despite problems

Yesterday the MCOT board of directors appointed Premkamon Tinnakorn Na Ayutthaya as acting president, replacing vice chairman Chakraphan Yomchinda, who resigned from the post because of health problems. 

Premkamon, who is also an MCOT director and chairman of the nomination committee, said that because of the long holidays last month, the process of selecting a president that began on April 5 had to be prolonged, with the application deadline extended from May 15 to the end of the month. Given this delay, the process will probably be completed by July 25 instead of the end of June as targeted previously. 

MCOT’s revenue for the first three months of this year increased slightly by 3 per cent to Bt1.3 billion from Bt1.27 billion in the same period last year. However, net profit fell by 3 per cent to Bt356 million from Bt367 million because of the effects of the massive floods in the previous quarter.

Chief financial officer Jessada Promjad said the company managed some growth as a result of a 2-per-cent increase in radio revenue to Bt197 million from Bt193 million and a 5-per-cent surge in joint-operation and other revenue.

However, television broadcasting, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of total revenue, saw a 4-per-cent drop to Bt819 million from Bt849 million year on year.

The company also faced a 15-per-cent surge in operating costs in the first quarter to Bt853 million, up from Bt740 million a year earlier, driven by the television and radio business, which accounted for 65 per cent of its expenses. These derived from higher programme-production costs, rental and installation fees for a new video wall in the newsroom, and satellite transponder rental on Thaicom 5. Personnel expenses were also up because of annual salary increases and other expenses.

Kematat Paladesh, vice president for marketing, said that with the new video wall and “Bird’s Eye News” reporting by helicopter, MCOT would attract more sponsors and higher advertising spending on news programmes.

MCOT will revamp co-produced news programmes on Modernine TV via both new partnerships and time-sharing for the third-quarter TV schedule to boost revenue, while the second quarter is expected to see stagnant growth. 

Kematat said Modernine TV also planned to improve revenue for non-prime-time programming after midnight with sports shows to cash in on live coverage of such events such as the Euro 2012 soccer tournament and the London Olympics, as well as other popular sports. The new sports programming will begin in July, expected to create at least Bt20 million in revenue. 

“Given these marketing efforts, I strongly believe that the company will achieve its target of Bt5.7 billion [revenue] by end of this year and enjoy 15-per-cent year-on-year growth,” Kematat said.