Four Thai firmsm will bid for EPL rights

TrueVisions' three-year rights to broadcast Premier League matche s expire next year.
The cable TV business Cable Thai Holding (CTH) is ready to bid high to win the right to broadcast the English league matches – known as EPL – in Thailand, its chairman Wichai Thongtang said. Wichai said he already has figures in his mind for how much CTH will spend
to win the right. Wichai said CTH was already registered and shortlisted by EPL as one company
to bid for the rights. CTH’s 300 cable TV operator members currently have a combined subscriber base of about 3.5 million, which is expected to reach 7 million in the next
three years. Wichai said CTH’s strength was its large subscription base. If the company could win the EPL broadcast right, it would become the centre of showing English football to all local community viewers.

“We believe we can quickly make profit from the EPL content and we plan to lease the right to air the matches to freeand pay-TV operators,” he said. CTH was jointly founded by cable-TV
operators many years ago to raise funds for importing foreign content on a costsharing
basis. It has also mobilised funds to facilitate cable-TV expansion.

The company is expanding its fibreoptic infrastructure network across the country, a project that should be done in three years. The advanced fibre-optic cable network will allow cable-TV firms
tooffer a wide range of services through cable lines, including providing Webbased services such as Internet protocol television (iPTV) on top of improved-definition programmes.
CTH is expected to make losses of Bt200 million this year. But if all business plans go as intended, it would make a profit next year, he said. “If we lose the EPL bid, we’re ready
to lease the broadcasting right from the winner. We’re ready to join with everyone because we need to make friends more than foes,” he said.

CTH is not a new face in the battlefield of bidding for the right to show international sports programmes. In February this year it joined the battle to bid for the right to broadcast the FA
Cup in Thailand. “In that time we proposed US$21 million for the FA Cup broadcasting
right but lost to the winner, which proposed $28 million. Anyway, it’s worth taking part in the bid as we can make a name in the bid market. “We’ve strong determination to win
the FA Cup broadcasting right bid, just like this time when we are bidding for the EPL rights.” It was Channel 7 that won the right to broadcast FA Cup matches in Thailand.
CTH is also interested to pitching for the right to broadcast Thai Premier League matches in the future and has a plan to develop a community news channel to serve all provinces.
CTH is also in talks with set-top box vendors on its plan replace old set-top boxes for its 3.5 million subscribers.
Most of the planned set-top box purchase will be done via suppliers’ credit. CTH has a plan to list on the SET in 2015. Recently it appointed former Advanced Info Service executive vice
president Kritsanan Ngampatipong as its acting chief executive officer. CTH is also seeking a partner to hold 20 per cent of its shares, and that deal is expected to be wrapped up before
February.
Wichai owns 25 per cent of the  shares in CTH, while Vachara Vacharapol, chief executive officer of Trend VG3, holds another 25 per cent on his own. The other 30 per cent is jointly owned by its cable-TV operator members.
Earlier GMM Grammy showed interest to acquire the remaining 20 per cent but later gave up the plan.

GMM Z’s CEO Thana Thienatchariya said the company had decided to make a joint bid for the right to broadcast English League matches in Thailand because this was the “king of content” for football lovers. However, he couldn’t reveal how much the firm would bid because he
said it was a highly competitive market. But if the company gets the right for the EPL, it plans to set up members price of Bt300 to Bt400 a month targeting the mass market, rather than
the existing right to broadcast who now offers prices between Bt1,600 to Bt2,000 per month.
RS Plc’s chief operating officer Pornphan Tacharungchaikul confirmed that the company would partner a bid for the EPL broadcast rights. If it wins, the company will set a monthly member’s cost of Bt350 to Bt450 – which it expected would boost member numbers to over one million.
“If we got the right to broadcast the EPL, that will boost our market capital from Bt4 billion to Bt6 billion because this league is popular among Thai sport lovers. That is why we ready
to compete in this biding,” she said.