CTH, True Visions 'pipped' for BPL broadcast rights
Thai broadcasters CTH and True Visions have failed to clinch audio-visual broadcasting rights for three new seasons of the Barclays Premier League (BPL) after Qatari BeIN Sports was reportedly named the winner of the current bid, an industry source said.
Although there is no confirmation yet from the BPL, it is understood that Thai pay-TV operators would be soon invited to attend another bid for sub-licensing contracts from the new winner after an official announcement.
The source said that BeIN Sports, an affiliate of Al Jazeera news agency, reportedly offered the BPL about US$250 million (Bt8.88 billion) to clinch the deal over the two bids from Thailand – CTH and True Visions. Meanwhile, Fox International Channels, which had earlier expressed its intention to bid, decided to pull out.
Each season, 380 matches can be telecast live.
The Qatar-based broadcaster’s investment for three consecutive seasons, covering Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, was less than the previous deal – worth about US$300 million – paid in the last three years by Cable Thai Holdings, now known as “CTH”.
Recently, Qatar’s BeIN Sports struck an exclusive deal to broadcast Spain’s La Liga for three seasons, beginning with the current season. Despite failing in its bid to win the Spanish league broadcast right, True Visions has been able to telecast live matches of La Liga to its subscribers through its exclusive partnership with BeIN Sports.
The Nation understands that the relationship between True Visions and BeIN Sports has been constructively created since February last year.
Because all tenders for the BPL rights are still in a non-disclosure period, both CTH and True Visions could not be reached for comments.
In an interview with The Nation last month, Birathon Kasermsri na Ayudhaya, head of commercial and business development at True Visions, stressed that the company wanted to air the BPL but at a reasonable price.
“In the previous bid, we had to give up because of the intense competition from a rival. This investment by the rival is considered extremely high, almost three times more than what True Visions had paid for the previous deal,” Birathon said.
In 2012, CTH had clinched broadcasting rights for the BPL. The company set an ambitious goal of creating a pay-TV empire, to take on market leader True Visions. On day one, the company had targeted more than 7 million subscribers.
Amid a rapid change in the media landscape, particularly after the birth of 24 free-to-air digital terrestrial TV channels last year, pay-TV business appears to face severely difficulty in business operation.
