TrueVisions to expand viewer base
TRUE CORP has high hopes of expanding TrueVisions’ pay-TV subscriber base beyond the group’s 29 million mobile users after securing the broadcasting rights for the upcoming seasons of six major European football leagues: the English Premier League, Spain’
Birathorn Kasemsri Na Ayudhya, chief executive for content and media, said yesterday that the telecom giant had been awarded broadcasting rights for these major sports competitions from two international broadcasting networks – Qatar-based BeIN Sports and US-based Fox International Channel – but he declined to disclose how much True had spent on acquiring the broadcasting rights.
Under the deals signed with BeIN Sports, TrueVisions gets the rights to telecast live games from the top-flight football leagues in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, as well as Major League Soccer in the US, the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Europa League and Uefa Super Cup – all via BeIN Sports channels 1-4.
TrueVisions secured a sub-licence agreement with BeIN Sports to telecast the English Premier League in Thailand after its rival CTH decided last month to pull out of the race due to financial difficulty.
Under the deals with Fox International Channel, TrueVisions will broadcast the Bundesliga, the Dutch Premier League and the AFC (the Asia Football Confederation) Champions League and AFC Cup via Fox Sports channels.
“We hope that these major sport events will encourage [many of the] 29 million mobile users of True Move to be TrueVisions subscribers via mobile devices, as well as via traditional pay-TV service,’ Birathorn added.
To stimulate demand, the company has launched a top-up package – True Super Soccer – for True Move mobile subscribers who already |subscribe to TrueVisions’ pay-TV service.
