Channel 7 eyes sports events close to home
A mid fierce competition among cable-TV operators over acquiring media rights to televise world-class sports events, Bangkok Broadcasting and TV, the operator of Channel 7, has turned its focus on securing the rights to regional and national sports tourna
This year, BBTV earmarked about Bt1 billion for acquiring audio-visual broadcasting rights for major sports events, including the English FA Cup for the 2012-13 through 2018-19 soccer seasons; Germany’s DFB-Pokal, or DFB Cup; and the Asean Football Federation’s Suzuki Cup this year and in 2014.
Palakorn Somsuwan, assistant managing director for programme and content/advertising at BBTV, said yesterday that the company was keen on regional and national sports tournaments such as volleyball competitions in which the Thai national team takes part, and Thai Premier League soccer.
The expansion of the soccer fan base in the Kingdom has also opened more doors for local advertisers to use key sport events to raise their brand awareness, Palakorn said. He noted that local broadcasters, particularly cable-TV operators, were seeking media rights to televise key sports events to attract new subscribers.
For example, Cable Thai Holdings recently acquired the rights to broadcast live English Premier League soccer matches for the 2013-14 to 2015-16 seasons. TrueVisions, meanwhile, has the rights for the current EPL season, as well as for the Thailand Premier League, Uefa Europa League and Italy’s Calcio Serie A.
In addition, music and entertainment giant RS has secured the rights to broadcast Spain’s La Liga soccer for the 2012-13 to 2015-16 seasons and the Fifa World Cup 2014, while GMM Grammy holds rights for the coming seasons of a number of major soccer leagues: Germany’s Bundesliga, England’s npower Championship, the French Ligue 1 and Japan’s J League.
Thitipong Kiewpaisal, marketing executive at leading telecom operator Advanced Info Service (AIS), said world-class sports events had achieved mass popularity in the provinces over the past couple of years, as leading local and international companies continued to spend public relations budgets via sponsorship of live-broadcast matches and related on-ground events.
Lertsak Navavimarn, general manager for sales and marketing at Thai Suzuki Motor, said that sponsoring leading sports tournaments had helped the company raise public awareness.
He did not disclose how much the company spent annually on sponsorship, but stressed it was a key policy of the parent company in Japan.
Both AIS and Thai Suzuki Motor are main sponsors of the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup 2012.
