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I-Sport Co, a provider of mobile applications and content, will focus on purchasing local and international sports TV programmes and organising sports events after its recent takeover of Siam Sport TV from Siam Sport Syndicated, said Subhasiddhi Rakkasikorn, chief marketing officer of Samart Multimedia.

I-Sport Co is a 50:50 joint venture of Samart Multimedia and Siam Sport Syndicate. The latter provides all types of sport media, such as daily newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and organises events. Siam Sport TV operates three satellite TV sports channels and organises sporting events.

Subhasiddhi said I-Sport expected revenue of Bt300 million this year.

“We are also seeking opportunities to enter the terrestrial digital TV business by joining with or acquiring an existing licence if we get the opportunity,” he said.

I-Sport bid unsuccessfully for a digital-TV licence from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission two years ago.

The company plans to list on the Market for Alternative Investment this year.

Voucher expansion requested

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has asked for permission from the military’s ruling National Council for Peace and Order to allow people to use its digital-TV-equipment vouchers towards purchase of satellite TV set-top boxes and hybrid digital/satellite boxes.

The NBTC has given away Bt690 vouchers to households to be used towards the purchase of digital set-top boxes or television sets with built-in digital tuners.

An NBTC source said that if the junta approves this new choice, it is convinced that more people would use their vouchers. Of the 7 million that have been distributed, 2.6 million coupons have been redeemed.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said the commission would launch the fourth round of voucher distribution on January 28. A total of 633,825 coupons will be given away in Buri Ram, Surin, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang provinces.

Vietnamese province building solar plant

The central province of Quang Ngai in Vietnam is developing a 30-megawatt solar power station in Mo Duc district, which will start operating by the end of the year, the provincial Department of Industry and Trade has announced.

The department said the station, which got construction approval five years ago, will be built with a US$60-million (about Bt2 billion) investment from a joint-stock company.

The department said the project would commence this year and connect to the national grid.

In 2005, a solar-power project was developed in An Binh Islet of Ly Son Island district, 30 kilometres off the coast of Quang Ngai province. But the district started using power from the national grid at the end of last year. |– Viet Nam News/ANN