RS eyes InTouch partnership to win EPL broadcast
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Major entertainment firm RS has confirmed that it is in talks with InTouch, the country's largest telecom holding firm, along with other potential partners to bid jointly for the rights to broadcast future English Premier League soccer matches.
“EPL is a considerably important soccer league, as it is the most preferred among Thai football fans,” RS chief executive officer Surachai Chetchotisak said yesterday.
Bidding for the rights to broadcast the matches in Thailand for the 2013-14 through 2015-16 seasons will begin early next month, and the league will make a decision on awarding the contract by September, Surachai said.
TrueVisions’ right to broadcast the current season will end next year. If RS is to wrest the rights away from TrueVisions for subsequent seasons, it needs a partner to help it win the bid, he said.
Such important content would be expected to strengthen its pay-TV services in the future if it wins the bid. Currently the company holds two key rights to broadcast sports events, namely Spain’s La Liga for the 2012-13 through 2015-16 season and the Fifa World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
Thus the company recently launched its first pay-TV channel, RS Sport La Liga, for live coverage of the Spanish league, which begins in August.
Yesterday RS introduced its satellite TV set-top box, called “Sunbox”. The company has partnered with the big four satellite TV traders, namely Infosat, Ideasat, Leotech and Thaisat. RS will distribute the boxes via modern trade channels such as 7-Eleven convenience stores, Big C Supercenters and Tesco Lotus, as well as RS’s own call centre.
With this Bt1,590 set-top box, satellite television viewers will be able to access 200 channels via C-band, 80 channels via Ku-band, and RS’s pay-TV channel.
Meanwhile, customers who want to watch all 380 live matches per season from RS Sport La Liga channel via other set-top boxes equipped with a conditioned access system, such as PSI Holding’s, have to pay an annual subscription fee of Bt1,200.
RS chief operating officer Pornpan Techarungchaikul said the company expected to gain 500,000 subscribers from the first season of La Liga broadcasts. She added that the company was also negotiating with TrueVisions, Cable Thai Holding and individual cable TV operators to extend the coverage of Spain’s most popular soccer league.
This new pay-TV service will contribute revenue in the final quarter of the year, with full-year income of Bt3.2 billion now targeted for the company, representing a 19-per-cent increase from last year, she said.
A total of Bt950 million is expected to come from music and digital download services, Bt850 million from show business, Bt750 million from TV business, Bt430 million from radio business, Bt230 million from sports content and the remainder from in-store media services.
