'The News' venture scaled down to 2-hour programme
GMM Grammy will produce news content for free TV and its satellite channels this year, instead of launching The News, a 24-hour news channel, as planned previously.
Last year, GMM Grammy said it would kick off its first news channel in mid-2012. It also earmarked Bt300 million for the project.
Yesterday however, chief financial officer Premon Pinskul told The Nation that “The News” would be a two-hour news show produced by the company. It would develop into a 24-hour news station in the future.
The TV programme will be proposed to the country’s free TV stations – BEC’s Thai TV3, the Army’s TV5, Channel 7, MCOT’s Modernine TV, NBT and Thai Public Broadcasting Service (ThaiPBS).
About Bt50 million will be budgeted for |production and studios for “The News”. Pinyo Trisuriyatamma, a host at ThaiPBS, will be in charge of production.
Although “The News” project is considerably delayed, the country’s leading media and enter-|tainment company aims for 20-|per-cent growth in revenue this |year, driven by its core business – music, events and radio – and new ventures such as the 1 Sky satellite TV platform and home shopping service.
GMM Grammy’s 1 Sky Multimedia, a satellite TV broadcaster, will generate revenue from set-top box sales, advertisements, pay-TV and pay-per-view subscriptions.
This subsidiary expects to sell at least 1.5 million set-top boxes this year, of which 300,000-400,000 would be for the live airing of Euro 2012, the soccer championship under the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) starting in June.
The 1 Sky venture will also launch entertainment and sports packages for its satellite TV channels in March, priced at Bt200-Bt300 each.
The company is entering the home-shopping business with South Korean firm CJ O Shopping.
GMM-CJ O Shopping, a joint venture, was established in November with registered capital of Bt540 million and is to begin operations by midyear.
By the end of the year, 1 Sky and GMM-CJ O Shopping are expected to contribute at least 13 per cent of total revenue.
Last year, GMM Grammy saw its revenue soar 30 per cent, but because of the massive flood, its profit increased by only 15 per cent, instead of 30 per cent as had been projected, Premon said.
