CTH rebuilding faltering business with new partnerships

The rights to telecast the English Premier League (EPL) for the 2013-15 seasons cost pay-TV company CTH some Bt10 billion when they won the bid two years ago, leaving the big boy of Thai cable and satellite business, former rights holder TrueVisions, completely desolate.

However, CTH’s EPL broadcast debut was anything but spectacular. It received more brickbats than bouquets. The firm failed miserably in its business operations in the first year. Scalded badly, they appear to have learnt from its mistakes.

Two weeks before the start of the new season this Saturday, CTH has decided to change its strategy to build up its customer base through business partnerships. It aims to snare more than 3.8 million customers from the paltry 340,000 it currently has before the end of the year.

CTH’s new business partners are PSI Holdings, some satellite-TV operators who cannot be named, My World Internet-protocol television, AIS, DTAC, information-technology retailers, Sanook.com, and its subsidiary GMM Z Pay TV.

Channel 3 will also broadcast 26 EPL matches live while three matches will be aired on Thairath TV under a deal with CTH.

Apart from launching its “Barclays Premier League Box” that would bring all the 380 matches home and help increase its subscriber base, CTH also joined hands with RS, the rights holder of Spanish La Liga. RS will sell the new “Sunbox La Liga Star” that will broadcast all 380 matches of EPL besides the La Liga matches.

The partnership means footie fans will have more channels to watch the matches. However, TrueVisions and its subscribers are left high and dry after failing to forge any alliance.

The main reason that CTH has changed its strategy from making a solo run in doing business to seeking allies could be related to money.

According to its executive, CTH lost around Bt4 billion in its first year of operations, falling far short of the Bt7 billion needed just to break even.

Its mistake began with the high bidding fee or a 432-per-cent increase over what former holder TrueVisions had paid for the last three seasons.

Moreover, CTH, buoyed by the success and riding on cloud nine, tried to monopolise the content. At that time, the most watched football league’s rights were considered a precious asset. The belief was that anyone who secures the rights would garner a huge profit. 

As a new face in cable TV business, the EPL rights would also help catapult CTH to the top of the business as well. So thought the executives at CTH. How wrong were they, as events proved in the course of last year.

Now it remains to be seen if the new strategy of building partnerships will help CTH wipe away the losses.

However, it’s very much likely that the firm won’t bid for the EPL rights in the next round – 2016-18 seasons.

CTH has only itself to blame for the wrong strategy. Though it suffered losses, it can proudly claim that it made headlines around the world of sport as the surprise winner who paid the second-highest licence fee in the world to obtain the EPL rights.