Truevisions Complaints

[grantbkk]

Letter of Suggestions and Complaints and their response:

Director of Communications

Dear Khun Kantima Kunjara,

I have been planning to write you personally regarding True Visions programming for sometime, eager to give you what I believe is relevant insight into television programming from a western perspective. What inspired me to write today was my frustration with True Visions’ American football schedule for the coming month. I check the True Visions Magazine, your website and called True Visions Care to clarify the schedule and to make a list of the National Football League (NFL) games to be presented this month.

I was encouraged by the American Football promotion on page 48 of True Visions Magazine touting the “Live and Exclusive! 2007 Season Kick Off” game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. The September 7th game was advertised as a showcase for your commitment to professional American football. I checked the magazine and on the internet to determine what channel was carrying the broadcast however the game was not listed. I called True Visions Care and was informed that the magazine promotion was not correct and the game was not available from True Visions. Looking further into the schedule revealed that of the 60 NFL games played this month only four are broadcast on True Visions. This is not much of a commitment and unacceptable to NFL fans.

Over the past six months True Visions Television has become the talk of the town. It seems to be the number one or number two topic of conversation when westerners get together in social situations. You would probably agree with me that the Thai economy, political unrest, global warming, violence in the Deep South and the dilapidated Suvarnabhumi Airport would be expected to dominate these type of conversations. However, to my surprise there are a lot of people very passionate about the quality of your programming. I do not want you to think these folks are just tourists or poor westerners living life on the cheap in Thailand. These people work in well recognized multi-national corporations, Thai companies, broadcasting, are diplomats and include wealthy retirees living full time in this country, most with their families.

The first words associated with True Visions are “joke”, “awful”, and “the worst”. Every one of these individuals must travel all over the world and to a man they say there is nothing worse than True Visions. Several have said that even Cambodia has better television content than True Visions. Please do not take this criticism personally. Cable television companies in the United States faced the same criticism in the 1970’s and 1980’s for their poor service and program content. Many companies were out of touch with the consumer and as a result became an iconic running joke when one was describing appalling customer service. After a shakeup in the industry and laws preventing monopolies were enacted service providers in the United States are now rated high in service and content.

Recently I received a call from the Bangkok Post Editorial Department. The representative said that they were overwhelmed with complaints regarding True Visions and were trying to put letter writers in touch with your customer service department. She went on to say that the Post could not even print even a small percentage of the letters as it would give the impression they were attacking True Visions.

Back to the most recent conversations, several are exploring alternative satellite television service providers. Two are currently installing very large systems in there homes. They have given up on True Visions and do not see any changes in programming or policy in the near future. Several of the people I have had dealings with actually get there television content from street vendors. They don’t care how much it costs but want to enjoy what is available in developed countries and who can blame them. The street vendors provide family television programming that will not be available on True Visions for years. Additionally, no one understands why MTV and VH1 were replaced by local folk music channels. Many people I know are sports fans but not necessarily soccer fans. Last year NFL fans could watch three or four games a week now only four games are scheduled for entire month of September.

A suggestion I would make, is for you to look into what is being offered on your premium movie channels. HBO and CineMAX (Asia) are actually the same company offering a few recent movies played over and over forever interspersed with movies made for American television passed off as feature length movies. Some of these made for television movies are around 20 years old and probably should be on a channel dedicated to “old classic American television”. If HBO tried this tactic in the west they would be out of business and subject to criminal and civil penalties as well. You may be unaware that True Visions is advertising premium content but delivering a substandard product. Of course an inexpensive alternative for the consumer is to buy recent theatrical releases with great sound and picture quality from street vendors.

If you have any control over the television guide available on our set top boxes I have another complaint voiced by everyone that attempts to use the service. For some reason about two months ago, package designators like KNOW:, PLAT:, GOLD:, etc. have been appearing at the front of many of the programs in the electronic guide. These package designators are distracting, make no sense and render the guide less convenient to use, taking up space normally used for the program name.

The bottom line is that something has to be done now. If high-end consumers of entertainment find an alternative to True Visions inferior service there is no question that they will buy the superior service. Perhaps you can create additional premium packages we would be willing to pay for. I’m not talking about the HBO and Knowledge packages that you are trying to sell now. Wise consumers already understand channel packaging and “time shifting” and really don’t want another chance to see more re-runs or what you call encore presentations. True Visions attempt to sell us Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) appears to have failed.

Programming and not the technology drives the consumer. By giving us more choices and allowing us to pick our content your bottom line is sure to rise. We will pay a premium for decent content be it True Visions or another provider. We realize we have chosen out adopted country and because True Visions does not have a large customer base we expect to be charged a premium for premium service.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of these issues.

Sincerely, (grantbkk)

Dear Mr. (grantbkk):

We thank you so much for your comments and suggestions underneath.

We feel elate that you love NFL; however, we are not able to inform you right now if we will have a game on September 7, 2007 because the negotiation process with ESPN is still running. We hope it would come out very soon.

TrueVisions Magazines were prepared up to 2 months in advance to allow for production, including layouts, content preparation, proofing, printing, and mailing. Program schedules were usually received from the channel owners 2 months in advance, but they could be changed during the production of TrueVisions Magazine. This is the reason why some schedules are not according to the book. We sincerely apologize for the inconveniences caused once again.

True Visions’ program schedules and broadcast time are set according to international standard to serve various groups of members who have different watching times. Movies are shown and rerun at different times, so that members can catch every movie broadcast. However, TrueVisions offers numerous movie channels to give you a broader choice and at the same time avoid repeating movie shows for the same group of viewers.

Technically, we do not mean to annoy you with package designators, in fact that we just want to indicate where these channels are. For those customers who are using Platinum Package may say that "I get all channels, I do not need to be informed like that", but for those customers who are using the lower package, Knowledge Package for instance, could be explained by this way. We truly understand and really appreciate your suggestion; hopefully, you will get familiar with it soon. In addition, we recommend you to use i on the remote control to obtain more information.

As you mentioned about the street vendors, local operators or so whatever that we consider as the competitors, not sure that they are running a business legally. If they are, they should be able to pay 500 million baht per year to the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand like TrueVisions who suffered from the cost incurred. This is exclusive of the license fee we have paid…of course. We agree if you mean that we are the monopoly who runs the business legally. One other thing why we have finished the contract with MTV and VH1 because the license was not mutually agreed. However, we have been offering something else not only local folk music but also many of international music on True Music channel.

We are not making an excuses but we would like to ensure you that we improve the service all the time. Some program may not meet your satisfaction but we would like you to understand that other people may like it. This is why your comments and suggestions always welcome.

Finally, If it is not a waste of time, we would like you to visit our fancy website but please be informed that we are working on the “Search Section” at the moment. After we have finished it, your surfing would be more streamline. Below is the schedule for NFL games. We apologize again that we are not able to provide the complete list only to the end of this month. For your information, you can try to search by using the capital letter “NATIONAL FOOTBALL” at the section “Sport world”, it comes up as below.

TrueVisions

Dear TrueVisions Care:

Thank you for your prompt response to my e-mail dated 4 September 2007. I would appreciate you passing on my comments and suggestions, including today’s, to Senior Manager for Programming, Khun Chulathai Salidupta and Kantima Kunjara, Director for Communications of TrueVisions.

I find it hard to believe that TrueVisions would be continuing negations for one American football game three days before it is to be played. The larger issue that concerns me and many other subscribers is the massive reduction in live American football broadcasts. In years past UBC had broadcast three live games on Monday and one live game on Tuesday each week during the NFL season. From the information that you forwarded to me it appears that number has been reduced to four live games for the entire month of September. American football aside, your justification for decisions that affect hundreds of thousands of subscribers could be restructured for the greater good of your company and your viewer base as well.

On the subject of package designators in the set top box program guide, other departments besides marketing should be consulted. We understand that it is some kind of marketing tool; the package designator shows the customer what they are missing by not subscribing to premium packages. However, thought should be given to those who utilize the guide and the inconvenience level experienced by the premium package subscribers. In no way am I saying that the package designators cause major inconvenience but they are very much a nuisance no one needs. For TrueVisions to tell subscribers, “Hopefully you will get familiar with it soon”, is not a response that progressive customer care departments normally would pass on. Additionally, I suspect that your suggestion that I use the i on my remote control to obtain more programming information is exclusive to TrueVisions Care. First, it is a bit insulting but I’m sure there is someone somewhere that has never used it. I would suggest that the decision makers at TrueVisions test this feature. I think they would be surprised that about 20% of the time a banner stating “EXTENDED INFO NOT FOUND” is displayed.

On the issue of street vendors I personally don’t believe they are in competition with TrueVisions for movie and television content. They do however fill a gap for movies and television that TrueVisions cannot or will not provide to its customer base. While the Bt500M fee is huge I assume that amount was agreed upon by both sides and no one was holding a gun to anyone’s head. I also assume that by signing the contract TrueVisions took on the responsibility to provide an ever increasing programming schedule. By being the only “legal” operation in Bangkok comes with the responsibility to provide a variety of goods and services that the subscribers can access. If TrueVisions can do that there would be no need for street vendors to operate on the fringe to provide desired content to the masses. TrueVisions can charge anything they want because for the connivance of accessing desired programming people will buy it.

I suspect that the number of complaints regarding TrueVisions is expanding exponentially and you will be forced to rethink your business model in the near future. My suggestions are just that and food for thought to an executive board responsible to investors and subscribers. If I can be of any assistance please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Sincerely, (grantbkk)

[Jimjim]

Actually, my friend, it's not hard to believe that a contract would be negotiated 3 days before a game is to be played. This is not the U.S. This quite common in Thailand and other countries. Search recent threads to see how Real Madrid and Barcelona games were not shown worldwide on the first week of their Spanish football (soccer) league because of problems with the contract negotiations. It happens all the time.

I had heard elsewhere that ESPN was pulling their NFL broadcasts all over SE Asia, not just Thailand, so it has nothing to do with UBC. I could be wrong, I guess. However, I see no reason why they would pull it just in Thailand unless True were planning to air the same games themselves like they're doing with Premier League, meaning ESPN cannot show this league in Thailand. Remember that unless they buy the rights to air games on their own "True" channels, UBC/True has little control over ESPN's programming. There are actually several channels that UBC provides and chooses the programming. But note that ESPN, Star Sports, CNN, BBC, etc. run their own programming and True merely provides the access to these channels. Many people seem to forget this. I suggest you also try to write ESPN in Singapore to get your answers about the NFL. They may be the ones pulling the programming.

You noted only 4 games listed for one month, but more probably I submit to you that one of those Supersport channels will continue to show 2 games a week early Monday mornings. Live from the U.S. Check it out.

[grantbkk]

Actually, my friend, it's not hard to believe that a contract would be negotiated 3 days before a game is to be played. This is not the U.S. This quite common in Thailand and other countries. Search recent threads to see how Real Madrid and Barcelona games were not shown worldwide on the first week of their Spanish football (soccer) league because of problems with the contract negotiations. It happens all the time.

I had heard elsewhere that ESPN was pulling their NFL broadcasts all over SE Asia, not just Thailand, so it has nothing to do with UBC. I could be wrong, I guess. However, I see no reason why they would pull it just in Thailand unless True were planning to air the same games themselves like they're doing with Premier League, meaning ESPN cannot show this league in Thailand. Remember that unless they buy the rights to air games on their own "True" channels, UBC/True has little control over ESPN's programming. There are actually several channels that UBC provides and chooses the programming. But note that ESPN, Star Sports, CNN, BBC, etc. run their own programming and True merely provides the access to these channels. Many people seem to forget this. I suggest you also try to write ESPN in Singapore to get your answers about the NFL. They may be the ones pulling the programming.

You noted only 4 games listed for one month, but more probably I submit to you that one of those Supersport channels will continue to show 2 games a week early Monday mornings. Live from the U.S. Check it out.

It looks like the game is on live Friday morning.

Dear Mr. (grantbkk):

Please be informed that we are not able to live the first NFL Game on ESPN, on September 7, 2007 because there will be a live of Golf PGA Tour. As a result, we have shifted the first game that is planned to televise on ESPN to True Sport 3 instead for New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.

Title

Date/Time

(63)

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2007

013: NEW ORLEANS @ INDIANAPOLIS (6/9/2007)

07-Sep-2007 07:30

013: NEW ORLEANS @ INDIANAPOLIS (6/9/2007)

08-Sep-2007 08:00

001: NEW ENGLAND @ N.Y. JETS (10-SEP-2007)

10-Sep-2007 00:00

002: CHICAGO @ SAN DIEGO (10-SEP-2007)

10-Sep-2007 03:15

014: N.Y. GIANTS @ DALLAS (9/9/2007)

10-Sep-2007 07:15