TrueVisions confident of retaining English Premier League rights
TrueVisions believes that its large viewer base and strong business experience will help it win the three-year rights to broadcast English Premier League (EPL) matches in Thailand starting next season, according to Suphachai Chearavanont, the chief execu
He said this was the first time that several Thai firms have taken part in bidding for the EPL rights. Previously, TrueVisions has won the rights for two consecutive terms. Its three-year
right to broadcast Premier League matches expire next year.
The bidding process will start late this year. Given that the competition this time is expected to be fiercer, it is expected that the winning price this time could be as high as US$150 million (Bt4.61 billion) for the next three seasons.
True was estimated to have quoted $90 million to win the rights to broadcast the last three seasons, according to a media analyst. In June this year, the EPL TV rights bidding in the UK for
the next three seasons ended at 3.018 billion euros or Bt121.53 billion, up 70 per cent from 1.78 billion euros in the previous session. The bid winners were BSkyB and BT. “We’re hopeful of winning the rights in this next bidding round. If we can’t win, we’re ready to work with the winner in many ways,” Suphachai added. Currently, apart from the standard package, TrueVisions is
offering EPL packages from Bt350-Bt650 per month.
TrueVisions, which has around 2 million subscribers, is expanding its viewer base by teaming up with many partners. It has forged a partnership with Cable Thai Holding (CTH) to
expand its viewer base through CTH’s more than 300 cable-TV operators in the provinces. Under the partnership, subscribers of CTH member companies will get free access to nine exclusive channels from TrueVisions, including True Explore, Travel Channel Thailand, Siam Sport TV, Star Soccer TV, True Sport International and Speed Channel.
It has also created a partnership with PSI Holding, the largest manufacturer and trader of satellite-TV receivers, by offering a new box that accesses free-to-air services, providing
about 200 channels, including some exclusive TrueVisions channels.PSI hopes to sell at least 300,000 of the new boxes by the end of the year. The CTH member network has a combined 3.5
million cable-TV subscribers. PSI, meanwhile, has sold about 10 million satellite dishes over the past 20 years.
