Viewers are losers as GMM Grammy, TrueVisions fight

GMM Grammy, the media rights holder for the tournament, co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland, has allied with free TV channels and will televise the matches from June 8 to July 1. Channel 3 will be the main broadcaster and the final four games of the group stage will be simultaneously televised on Channels 5 and 9 as well.

Fans should be happy. But not TrueVisions’ subscribers.

Grammy made it clear that fans would be able to follow tournament matches only by subscribing to GMM Z top box, formerly known as 1Sky, which can be connected to satellite dishes and receive signals directly from Grammy. A second option is via local cable under partnership with Thai Cable Holding. A third is via satellite in cooperation with Thaicom’s DTV. A fourth option is homes that have old-fashioned antennas. And a fifth is via AIS on mobile phone.

This means TrueVisions subscribers cannot watch the matches – even if they are aired on free TV. Their TV screens will go blank during the matches. Soccer fans suffered the same problem during World Cup tournament two years ago. The reason is that Uefa sold the rights to Thailand only and Grammy is quite eager to block the signal, which could be pirated from TrueVisions to neighbouring countries.

Last week, the country’s biggest subscription TV operator made a plea on behalf of all viewers for Grammy to rethink and not block its broadcast signals. One of its executives said everybody should have the right to watch the global tournament.

After TrueVisions’ appeal through the press, Grammy said it would not let TrueVisions get the signals for free, because it paid around Bt400 million to get the licence rights. Its executive claimed that TrueVisions had earlier ignored an invitation to bid jointly for the Euro rights. The confrontation between the two companies became tense with each attacking the other in statements.

TrueVisions appeared to want to take the fight to the public and use them as a bargaining force to acquire broadcast rights. The company threatened to block some of their sport content, used by TV operators, if it is treated “unfairly” over Euro 2012.

TrueVisions was referring to the English Premier League (EPL) and Uefa Champion League, the rights for which they own for the next three seasons. They had originally planned to air some matches on free TV. Grammy, in fact, has a point here. To be fair, TrueVisions should give Grammy something in return. It could be broadcasting fees or sharing some sport content. Otherwise, TrueVisions has to compensate its subscribers, who have to pay for the GMM Z box or an antenna.

Whatever the outcome is, it will have an impact on the upcoming EPL bidding. Grammy and TrueVisions are competing for the broadcasting rights for 2013-2015 seasons.

Grammy boss Paiboon Damrongchaitham has shown a desire to have some sort of an understanding with TrueVisions. He feels the cost of securing the EPL rights will be too expensive if two firms from the same country fight against each other.

With less than a week to go before the kick-off and a solution not anywhere near, an old-fashioned antenna that costs around Bt200-300 is a good choice for fans. Another option for those who do not want to pay is watching via IPTV. Hopefully, Trueonline and other Internet providers will not block links for live streaming.

Competition in business is always good but sometimes it can be bad. In the war between Grammy and TrueVisions, viewers are the losers.