What can fans expect from the new EPL broadcaster?

When veteran investor Wichai Thongtang entered the broadcasting business in April, his aim was to strengthen the hand of local cable TV operators. True to form, he lost no time in launching his Thai cable TV company into headlines worldwide.

Cable Thai Holding (CTH) last month beat out the big boys in the Thai cable and satellite business to win the broadcast rights for the English Premier League (EPL) for the next three seasons (2013-2015) in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The company paid Bt10 billion, the second-most expensive license fee in the world, for the rights – a 432-per-cent increase on what current holder TrueVisions paid for the last three seasons. 

“Acquiring the rights also helped elevate local cable operators to an international level in a short period,” said CTH’s chairman and major shareholder Wichai.

The competition to secure sport content worldwide, especially for football, is heating up. The winner of rights to show English football is seen as owning a valuable asset. However, Wichai denied that he was building a broadcasting empire, with EPL rights as the cornerstone.

“I’m a ban nok [rural] kid so I want to strengthen cable TV ‘ban nok’ operators. I don’t mean to make my company look great but I just want to make our ‘ban nok’ friends stronger,” Wichai said.

Wichai said his aim is to connect all the cable TV operators in 77 provinces into one network. 

The country’s policy of going digital, entering the Asean Community and liberalising trade are all threats to local operators, he said.

“They are like SMEs. As the world has changed and reached a turning point, they need someone to build a solid model for them to survive and avoid being ‘invaded’ by foreign firms,” he said.

As for his EPL marketing model, Wichai refused to unveil the subscription fees for the package or the price for its set-top box, only saying that the fee would be cheaper than that of the current rights holder.

“The fee [for the full package] will be less than Bt1,000. It will depend on the number of subscribers. The more the number of subscribers, the less the fees,” he said.

Earlier, a source close to CTH revealed that subscribers were likely to pay about Bt300 on top of the standard package, priced at Bt300, to get access to the popular soccer league.

Currently, CTH has around 3.5 million household subscribers, but after winning the EPL rights, Wichai said the company had adjusted its target from seven to 10 million subscribers within three years. Around one million households are sports watchers.

The company will sign a deal with the EPL in January, after which CTH will have a clearer picture of what the rights cover – for example, whether they can hand sub-licences to other broadcast operators.

CTH has invited other broadcast operators to become its partners in order to expand EPL’s viewership in the country. Wichai says several companies have been in touch, but he had to see the exact conditions of the deal before making partnerships.

“I don’t think there will be any problem [for the sub-licences]. The Premier League’s objective is to increase its viewers. [But] I think they want us to ask for their consent if we want to do anything about the rights,” he said.

CTH’s new digital set-top box will function as a three-in-one tool, enabling subscribers to watch television, use it as an Internet router, and as a tool for interactive participation – so-called social TV. The full phase will be completed by next year. It plans to increase its current 16 channels to 120 channels next year.

In 2014, CTH also plans to launch LED TVs with in-built set-top boxes to make it more convenient for its customers to watch the programmes.