Fly on the Wall
Gayray planning a 'Hello, Asean' show Yutthana Boon-orm is too busy to celebrate the success of the recent Asanee-Wasan concert, which his company Gayray co-produced. He's getting ready for the Asean Economic Community.
Yes, that won’t be in place for another three years, but the GMM Grammy subsidiary is planning a massive music event for the occasion, starring basically everyone.
"It won’t be just a concert," Yutthana says. "We’re trying to engage everyone in the event, the same way the Fat Festival does with all the top indie acts. It will be an international event for the entire Asean population."
It’s early days yet, but not too early for Yutthana to realise that Gayray isn’t going to remain a small company much longer. "We’re recruiting staff and we’ll be launching a bilingual website." The idea is to build up a huge community of music lovers online ahead of the event.
Having organised the Big Mountain Festival, Yutthana isn’t worried about the scale of the Asean show. "I’m not worried about the music either, since most countries in the region have their own local heroes and we all love pop and rock and we all worship the same international stars."
That last bit sounds like a blatant hint that he might be mulling a major star like Lady Gaga – or at least a battalion of South Korean idols.
Effortless at 3
Channel 3 seems to be cruising these days, presenting lots of great viewing without breaking a sweat – or emptying its wallet.
After joining with GMM Grammy’s GMM Z to broadcast the Euro Cup, the station will next air English Premier League. It’s made a deal with True Visions, which owns the rights, to broadcast at least 17 matches during the coming season – about two games a month.
Plus, four of those fixtures will be big-time viewer bait, featuring Manchester City and Liverpool, and the live broadcasts will be during primetime.
Interestingly, Channel 3 will charge the same advertising fee as for its normal programming, while sharing the take with True Visions. "We’ve already got three big sponsors – Yamaha, Chang and Euro Custard – guaranteeing us Bt60 million," says Supachai Chervanont of True Visions.
His outfit, meanwhile, is waiting to hear the fate of its bid for three seasons’ worth of football, through 2016. "We’ve prepared Bt7 billion for the broadcast rights, and even if we don’t win, we’re ready to secure the rights from the licence holder," Supachai says. Channel 3 will sure be ready. It has declared it has no interest in competing for broadcast rights. It just wants to share them!
