Truevisions has 'no plans to cut programme procurement budget'
Pay-TV operator TrueVisions intends to continue spending Bt5 billion on procuring international and local sports and variety programmes despite losing the English Premier League rights, True Corp chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said.
True spends about Bt5 billion annually on procuring programmes. Though it failed to retain the EPL broadcasting rights for forthcoming seasons, it has no plans to cut its spending on procuring programmes.
He added that TrueVisions is also interested in entering the terrestrial digital-TV broadcasting business in the future.
Suphachai said that at the moment, TrueVisions has no policy to become a sub-licensee of Cable Thai Holding (CTH) to air EPL matches but it would focus on seeking content from other sports and variety programmes and also develop its own content to serve customers.
CTH surprised EPL market observers by beating fancied rivals, like existing rights-holder TrueVisions, to snatch the EPL broadcasting rights for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos for three seasons from 2013-14 to 2015-16. CTH reportedly offered about Bt10 billion to win the rights.
Suphachai said that TrueVisions had considered options to satisfy its subscribers after its EPL broadcasting rights end in May. Among the possible options are reduction of the monthly subscription fee for premium package subscribers or offering them an additional High Definition (HD) channel programme or more content. However, the company has yet to finalise the plan.
Contrary to the view of industry pundits, Suphachai does not think that TrueVisions’ business would be severely affected by its failure to win the EPL broadcasting rights as most TrueVisions subscribers are family viewers.
“But it’s too early to assess the impact,” he said.
TrueVisions had more than 1.79 million subscribers as of the third quarter.
Suphachai added that TrueVisions would also bid for the Thai Premier League (TPL) broadcasting rights.
Recently, CTH chairman Wichai Thongtang said that CTH is also eager to snap up the broadcasting rights for the increasingly popular TPL matches. Thai Premier League Co Ltd owns the TPL rights.
TrueVisions currently has three-year TPL broadcasting rights until 2013. Bidding for the rights to broadcast the league in 2014-2016 will begin in January next year. The tournament normally runs from March to October.
