TrueVisions to vie for broadcast rights to top soccer leagues
To keep its crown as the "King of Sports", TrueVisions, the country's largest subscription-based TV broadcaster, will join in the bidding for rights to the new seasons of the world's best soccer leagues including Barclays Premier League - better known a
"Even though local players appear to keep silent in this coming EPL bid, we are seeing leading global networks like Qatari beIN Sports and Fox International Channel becoming very active in this competition," Birathon Kasemsri Na Ayudhaya, head of commercial and business development, said yesterday.
With this content, TrueVisions could secure its position as the "King of Sports". Sports offer more benefits not only to pay-TV operators like TrueVisions but also to advertisers by leveraging their on-ground marketing activities and sponsorships.
However, TrueVisions insists that the bid prices for acquiring those premium sports programmes should be reasonable for the business’ operation.
In previous seasons, TrueVisions lost the audio-visual broadcasting rights for the EPL to its rival CTH and the broadcasting rights for the La Liga soccer league to RS, the country’s leading music and entertainment company.
Wichai Thongtang, chairman of CTH, said in a recent interview that he would continue to bid for new seasons of EPL, but Surachai Chetchotisak, chief executive officer of RS, said his company had no plan to enter a bid for the new round of La Liga.
The new soccer seasons will kick off around the middle of next year, while the bid winners are expected to be disclosed this year.
For this year, Birathon said that like other retail businesses, TrueVisions anticipated little sales growth, particularly from new subscribers in the first half of this year. Weak consumption was blamed as a reason for this.
"Major retailers ranging from convenience stores to department stores have been affected by the sluggish economy. Our business is following suit," he said.
The arrival of terrestrial-based digital TV is also creating confusion among local consumers about pay-TV services. This was also another factor affecting TrueVisions’ subscription growth.
To protect its churn rate and attract new subscribers, TrueVisions yesterday launched additional TV outlets to serve both its existing premium package customers and newcomers.
For example, customers who buy the Platinum HD package will get free third and fourth TV outlets after paying for first two TV outlets for one account. To get two TV outlets, the customer must pay a total of Bt2,314.
"Families are our main target for these new offers," Birathon said.
