TrueVisions now ignoring NBTC as well as subscribers

TrueVisions had the audacity to ignore requests by its regulator to attend a trilateral meeting with the NBTC and customer representatives on January 10. According to TrueVisions, only about 1,000 Platinum Package subscribers cancelled the service after the channels disappeared. It now seems happy to take the position that replacement options for the cancellation are the way to do business, that ignoring NBTC regulations is just fine, and that its subscriber base is happy with the change.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. This month TrueVisions is offering premium-level subscribers free incentives, such as upgrades and free beverages at 7-Eleven – so why would anyone cancel in January? Like me, many subscribers are held hostage by TrueVisions since it is the exclusive television-content provider for their places of residence. 
Last week TrueVisions stated it had failed to secure rights to HBO and Cinemax after six months of intense negations. Is this correct? Are the TrueVision accounting books open to the NBTC? The provider claims 300,000 Platinum Package subscribers. At Bt2,000 per subscription, TrueVisions is receiving at least Bt600 million every month – Bt7. 2 billion per year – from Platinum subscribers alone. The actual figure will be larger since many individual subscribers, including me, have more than one set-top box.
How much do HBO and Cinemax actually charge for the content?  With this kind of money in play, why can’t TrueVisions afford what we signed up for? And how can it replace what it advertised as the “best premium content available” with reruns of cancelled, failed US television shows?  
I think we can all infer that the motivation behind every move the provider makes is simply corporate greed.  
TrueVisions has operated as a monopoly for years, with a “take it or leave it” attitude when it comes to service. Now that there is actual competition on the horizon, we might be witnessing a “take the money and run” scenario. TrueVisions is not inept – it is a corporate lion taking advantage of its subscribers while walking all over its regulatory agency. Perhaps the prime minister can give it a taste of Article 44 to slow the bleeding a little. Paying Bt7.2 billion per year for some old television shows is ludicrous.
David Barkdull 
Bangkok