Pay-TV licensing delay may cost GMM Grammy Bt100 million
Music and entertainment giant GMM Grammy expects to suffer at least Bt100 million in losses of business opportunity due to the delay of pay-TV licences granted by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
GMM Grammy had aimed to launch 10 pay-TV channels last month to be operated by GMM Z, its satellite-TV subsidiary. The company would offer prepaid service to registered customers who wanted to access pay-TV content on its 10 special channels via GMM Z satellite receivers. For example, a package costing Bt300 monthly would offer five or six sports channels, while the Bt200 package offered four entertainment channels.
However, the new service was postponed as the company first needed to obtain pay-TV licences. The NBTC plans to grant such licences to registered satellite and cable TV operators by the end of this month.
Pay-TV was expected to be a key driver of GMM Z’s revenue this year. In the first phase, at least 10 per cent of the households that have purchased GMM Z set-top boxes were expected to subscribe to its pay-TV services.
GMM Grammy chairman Paiboon Damrongchaitham said yesterday that the delay had cost at least Bt100 million in lost business opportunity.
Given this hurdle, sales of GMM Z set-top boxes might be 1.5 million to 1.6 million by the end of the year, against the original target of 2 million.
Despite the setback, Paiboon said the company hoped that its overall business would be right on track.
Bualuang Securities reported that GMM Z would post net losses for 2012 and 2013 due to the heavy investment required for content and production and high marketing expenses.
