U B C ( True Visions ) To Start Airing Ads, But Won't Lower Fees

[sriracha john]

True Visions to run ads, but won't lower fees

Pay-TV operator True Visions plans to start broadcasting commercials on its network this year, but the increased revenue will not lead to a reduction in the subscription fee paid by viewers.

The move follows the enactment of the Broadcasting Act this week, which permits pay-TV businesses - cable and satellite - to run commercials. When the act comes into force, the Public Relations Department will no longer govern broadcasters.

The National Telecommunications Committee (NTC) said it would inquire from the Council of State whether authority will revert to it, NTC Secretary-General Suranan Wongvitha-yakamjorn said yesterday. Any conflicts arising from the industry should be sent to the NTC. The act stipulates the NTC was temporarily authorized to issue licenses for cable TV and community radio only.

"We'll run the commercials as allowed by the law," said True Corp Chief Executive Supachai Chearavanont. True Corp is the parent of True Visions.

True Visions will also talk with its concession owner MCOT to amend its existing concession to bring it in line with the new broadcasting law. Its existing concession has long prohibited commercials on the channels, though from its inception the company has sought to do so.

Supachai said his study had revealed that on average, commercials account for only 10 per cent of the total revenue of pay-TV operators in this region. "Therefore, our commercial revenue will not be that huge," he said. Revenue from the commercials would not help True Visions cut operating costs and thereby enable it to reduce subscription fees.

Supachai said the broadcaster planned to use the revenue from the commercials on funding the development of local programs to support the local-content industry.

True Visions also planned to increase the number of channels to over 100 from the existing 95.

- The Nation

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The new additional five channels.... and they don't come cheap either...

The Fireplace Channel - 24/7 broadcast of a solitary cozy hearth with crackling wood in the fire soundtrack.

The Mouse Channel - 12 hours a day broadcasting of documentaries on how to select a mouse for computer usage.

Yesterday's Weather Channel - Live coverage of what the weather was 24 hours ago.

Turkmenistan Sports Channel - Follow the various national teams in a variety of sports compete in regional coverage.

Watching The Grass Grow Channel - Self explanatory

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What are anyone's estimate as to the potential for ad revenue for television commericals via the sole distributor of a the only nation-wide television media format??? but... they can't lower even Platinum service costs 25 satang....

Edited March 7, 2008 by sriracha john

[sweetchariot]

But my UBC has always had adverts on it. What's this all about?

[astral]

The real ads used to be blanked with silly red screens from UBC........

Now they will let you see them, and no extra cost??

[richard10365]

Possible Thai channels.......

The Karoke Channel

The Mia Noi Channel

The Chang Beer Channel

The Coup Channel...

I'm sure UBC can add some more.

[LivinLOS]

The real ads used to be blanked with silly red screens from UBC........

Now they will let you see them, and no extra cost??

But that was ages ago that they got rid of that.. and I see all kinds of adverts already..

[Sparkles]

The real ads used to be blanked with silly red screens from UBC........

Now they will let you see them, and no extra cost??

But that was ages ago that they got rid of that.. and I see all kinds of adverts already..

Its a bit of a toss up which is worse the advertisements or the endless promos for coming shows. BBC being one of the worst. The so called monthly program which is just a vehicle for advertising needs a massive upgrade. With the sports channels the program bears no relation to what is actually to be shown in many caes and reviews of movies are non existent but thats what you get with no competition.

[sriracha john]

The real ads used to be blanked with silly red screens from UBC........

Now they will let you see them, and no extra cost??

But that was ages ago that they got rid of that.. and I see all kinds of adverts already..

But now they actually have permission to do so...

The joys of a monopoly is that you can pretty much do whatever you want whenever you want and however you want.

Edited March 8, 2008 by sriracha john

[lopburi3]

They have been allowed pass-through advertising for about the last year. I expect they now can air local advertising as well.

[Payboy]

there are pass-through (internationally broadcasted) ads and local ads...

there was a time when ubc blocked all pass-through advertising and used that as an excuse for their higher subscription fees. international channels ask for higher fees if pass-through advts are not allowed in certain un-progressive countries...

recently, ubc have been showing mostly pass-through ads (but still blocking alcohol / cigarette ads with red screens copyright stolen music) then their programming costs reduced marginally due to better rates from the international channels.

i guess this means, that they will substitute pass-through ads with local service ads and generate higher revenue without passing any cost benefit to subscribers.

[sriracha john]

Yes indeed... and their percentage of the take from advertising will be infinitely higher with the local advertising...

Wonder what rates they'll be charging...

Spot on also about the...

there was a time when ubc blocked all pass-through advertising and used that as an excuse for their higher subscription fees

[Mobi]

Cable TV firms upbeat about ad prospects

New law offers chance to lift revenue

WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE

The Thailand Cable TV Association predicts that the industry's value will double in the next two years now that the new Radio and Television Business Act is in force and a new TV rating system is imminent.

//excess text removed - lopburi3//

Business Post.

Well how about that? - 300 local cable companies are about to become legal

Edited March 8, 2008 by lopburi3

[Old Man River]

Advertising on Truevisions is welcome and they have been doing it for awhile anyway. Price increases should be a lot slower in coming and I know I would rather see advertising than the nonsense gaps they often have. Unlike Thai TV, where programs are often designed so that advertising time outpaces program content, imported programs have pre-determined time lengths so that this shouldn't be the case.

[naka]

Thailand has Gogo bars because there is no blooming point in staying

home and having a nice night in front of the telly

Naka.

[onethailand]

Advertising on Truevisions is welcome and they have been doing it for awhile anyway. Price increases should be a lot slower in coming and I know I would rather see advertising than the nonsense gaps they often have. Unlike Thai TV, where programs are often designed so that advertising time outpaces program content, imported programs have pre-determined time lengths so that this shouldn't be the case.

I guess it remains to be seen how this is going to affect the quality of programming. If they don't overcrowd real programming with advertising, then actually I wouldn't mind, since I like to see some good quality advertising sometimes, and besides it makes for a good opportunity to go to the bathroom, or make popcorn, get another beer, etc.

If, on the other hand, UBC decides to become an advertising billboard, I predict they will lose a lot of customers to other alternatives.

[BigSnake]

UBC sucks big time, lousey service.

[ChiangMaiThai]

When UBC started showing ads a couple years back they made a point to let subscribers know that they collected no revenue and that they were allowing us to see the ads as a service. As far as I know UBC has never made a baht from this pass through advertising.

[JetsetBkk]

What are anyone's estimate as to the potential for ad revenue for television commericals via the sole distributor of a the only nation-wide television media format??? but... they can't lower even Platinum service costs 25 satang....

But haven't there been two changes recently which effectively increase the cost?

1. There was an on-screen message about them changing the date of their "payment cycle" from the 25th to the 24th of each month. This effectively increases the cost by 0.3%. I haven't worked out whether this is a one-off increase or should be considered a yearly increase.

2. There was another on-screen message about them charging every 30 days, and not monthly, for people who own their own decoders. So these people now pay every 360 days what they used to pay every 365 days - a 1.3% increase.

[pampal]

UBC has too much repeat programming.

[Thai at Heart]

They have been allowed pass-through advertising for about the last year. I expect they now can air local advertising as well.

Why on earth are they bothering to tell their subscribers that they are about to rip them off? We already pay thru the teeth for reruns and rubbish.

[sriracha john]

The real ads used to be blanked with silly red screens from UBC........

Now they will let you see them, and no extra cost??

But that was ages ago that they got rid of that.. and I see all kinds of adverts already..

But now they actually have permission to do so...

The joys of a monopoly is that you can pretty much do whatever you want whenever you want and however you want.

They have been allowed pass-through advertising for about the last year. I expect they now can air local advertising as well.

Why on earth are they bothering to tell their subscribers that they are about to rip them off? We already pay thru the teeth for reruns and rubbish.

The answer as to why is contained in the red text above...

[dominique355]

UBC sucks big time, lousey service.

Yeah, but I was lucky to "win" the new Reveiver/Decoder with a built-in harddisk. I had to go to TrueVisions though, to pick it up. I also got a new decoder card and this new receiver is now about at the level where other countries were 5 years ago (as to 15 years ago with the normal receivers).

EPG is now 1 week, but still about 30% of the programs have no explanation.

Some suggestions for TrueVisions:

- better quality pictures (ever heard of HD TV?)

- better quality of sound (ever heard of Dolby Digital?)

- better quality of program (less re-runs, please)

- bigger dishes (so we can watch even when it is raining)

Now all this will become available with advertising allowed, right?

[grantbkk]

The new Broadcast Act that becomes effective on Wednesday could be the light at the end of a very long tunnel for TV viewers in Thailand. Paid advertising on satellite and cable channels could be the funding source that content providers could only dream of in the past. Forward thinking, progressive companies will use this money stream to improve the quality of their programming and lower the draconian fees we as viewers must pay here in Thailand. Or will they?

I have read four articles quoting unnamed sources at TrueVisions saying they will not lower fees. They say 10% of their revenue will now come from advertising however this huge amount of money will not reduce our fees one Baht. They will however raise the channel count to 100 from the 90 we currently are able to enjoy. This will mean more “classic” channels, at low or no cost, with programming from the 1980’s and 1990’s to quench our thirst for quality television. Perhaps TrueVisions will relent and allow us to view programming previewed during the endless promotions for Singapore television if they can get it at a low cost. I have called my cable provider several times as requested in the adverts but TrueVisions says there are no plans for adding these channels to their lineup.

I would hope many of us would contact TrueVisions and voice our displeasure with their content and pricing. TrueVisions holds a monopoly in most urban cities in Thailand, consequently we have no real choice when it comes to satellite and cable television. TrueVisions parent company, Charoen Pokphand Group, is sending billions of US Dollars to countries like Vietnam to increase their bottom line at the expense of their subscribers here in the Kingdom.

[mrt273nva]

True Visions to run ads, but won't lower fees

Pay-TV operator True Visions plans to start broadcasting commercials on its network this year, but the increased revenue will not lead to a reduction in the subscription fee paid by viewers.

the goal of a business is to maximize profits. i don't think UBC qualifies as a charity. i've always wondered why they didn't show ads. i thought it was a stupid business move on their part. the ads won't change anything because there use to be "intermission" gaps where ads would normally be. they will however have a larger budget to increase the quality of programming which i am in favor of.

[pop_corn]

Thats what happen when there is only one company giving the cable services.. more options? more choices? NO.

:S

[Payboy]

When UBC started showing ads a couple years back they made a point to let subscribers know that they collected no revenue and that they were allowing us to see the ads as a service. As far as I know UBC has never made a baht from this pass through advertising.

contract cost of purchasing international programming drops substantially when pass-through advts are allowed...

[Plus]

I don't know if UBC paid less for the same channels after pass through advertising was allowed.

I also don't know what they are going to do with the advertising money. There are no better movie channels than HBO/Star movies, no better news than BBC/CNN, no better sports than ESPN.

I'm afraid they'll use that money on promoting their own TrueSports, perhaps even running ads during the games like on public TV.

They might use the money to invest in their in-house entertainment channels - they seem to be popular with Thai viewers.

Or they can improve "Sparks" - they buy, dub, and program Japanses cartoons for it themselves. More money means better cartoons, theoretically.

[bkk_mike]

Hopefully they'll bring in HD. - After all, HDTVs are dropping in price to far more affordable levels, and if they're the only place for HD broadcasts of football, they'll get a lot of customers that may currently be on cable if the cable operators don't also upgrade.

Admittedly, I wish they'd simply bring in TV that people actually want to watch. (If it wasn't for the kid's stuff - Cartoon Network, Disney, etc., I'd have probably stopped paying for UBC years ago.

After all, you can generally download TV episodes a lot earlier than they're broadcast here, in better quality, and since I still pay for Sky and my UK TV licence at my place in London, I don't think watching TV series I've paid for there by downloading it here is much of an issue.

Final point -

If the Internet here ever runs at a reliable and reasonable speed, especially if it runs fast enough for HD streaming - then True Visions should worry, as people like me, who have access to offshore TV, will simply get a Slingbox hooked up to Sky / Freeview (or their US equivalents), and watch the TV we want to watch instead of being stuck with what True try to fob off on us. Slingbox + Freeview in the UK is FREE, and has more watchable channels than True. Sky (with movies + sports) isn't free, but I've never found nothing to watch...

Edited March 10, 2008 by bkk_mike

[jfchandler]

Excuse me, but can someone please direct me on how to subsubscribe to True's new "Watching the Grass Grow" Channel. It really sounds exciting... at least as much as most of the other programming I already get on True.

On the subject of commercials, I don't get True Sports 4 at home, so I had to go out to watch the U.S. Super Bowl recently. I must say, it was really fun to watch the game, and then every 15 minutes or so, sit thru two or three minutes of dead air time (with the camera showing only a pan shot of the playing field) while the Super Bowl commercials aired elsewhere (but not here!!!!) That certainly would be considered "pass through" advertising... So what gives about that???

Frankly, I keep True UBC because 1) I like the digital radio networks they offer, which provide a lot of themed stations of Western music not available over the air here; and 2) so that when I have Thai friends over, they can watch the Thai channels/programs they are accustomed to, without having to fiddle with rabbit ears antennas all the time.

I keep trying to find the new entertainment show/soappie about TG air hostesses slapping each other on Channel 5, but haven't quite managed to find the days/times it's being aired. This being Thailand, I find myself not hitting home watching the telly most evenings during prime time!!!