GMM goes for full-scale broadcasting business
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Marking the 30th anniversary of the music and entertainment empire, GMM Grammy chairman Paiboon Damrongchaitham said yesterday that in the future his company would be a total broadcasting business supported by five main pillars.
“Satellite TV, platform services, subscription-based service, over-the-top, and the coming digital terrestrial TV business are the key pillars that will sustain our company in the near future,” Paiboon said. Over-the-top (OTT) refers to delivery of video and audio over the Internet.
GMM Grammy was established as a music-production firm in 1983 and later expanded into radio and television broadcasting, show business and publishing.
A couple of years ago, the company jumped into the satellite TV business with 1 Sky, which was later renamed GMM Z. Under the strategy to expand its satellite TV platform, GMM Grammy set up the subsidiary GMM Z Trading to distribute and sell satellite set-top boxes.
To differentiate its platform from key rivals, the company also offers pay-TV service. Paiboon will establish its dealers as “Z-Partners” to provide pay-TV packages.
GMM Z also emphasises other media platforms via OTT such as mobile applications with a leading telecom operator and Internet protocol television (IPTV) with a broadband provider. It also provides pay-TV content to cable operators.
“We hope that GMM Grammy will become a total broadcasting empire,” he said.
He added that the onset of digital terrestrial TV overseen by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission would also provide an opportunity for the company to strengthen its business sustainability, as GMM Grammy aims to clinch one or two licences to operate either standard- or high-definition channels.
He acknowledged that the investment on the new digital channels would be large, but he could not disclose how much.
However, the company might be able to recoup the capital expended for digital TV within three years, he said.
