Latest Scam

[opengoal]

Saw a piece of paper hand delivered to a bar in Isaan yesterday. In a nutshell it says that the bar owner has to pay up to 5000 baht (dependant on the size of his tv's) to watch Euro 2008. Anything aired on thai tv is free and he pays UBC for right to watch it.

Hand delivered by a man in plain clothes stinks of a p1ss poor local police scam. Has anybody else come across this scam yet. The letter is headed T.C.C. Thai Copyright Collection and an address in Bangkok. We usually get the Bangkok Bobbies twice a year trying to scam up here. They only hit farang bars though.

The bar has no intention of paying but those Bangkok Bobbies can get pretty shitty if you stand up to them. They do their dirty work in cahoots with the local plod. Giving them a cut in return for letting them use rooms in the local police station( all adds authenticity to the scam)

Anybody have experience with TCC (alias Bangkok BIB) ?

[PattayaParent]

There was a thread in the Pattaya Forum about this a few weeks back, try a search there.

[Mobi]

I'm afraid it actually might be true.

There was an article in the business Post a few weeks ago that the company who has the rights for the Euro 2008 in Thailand (I believe TCC was the name) would be showing it free to air on Thai TV but would be charging pubs, bars, restaurants etc for the rights to show it.

The world cup was allowed to be shown free of charge, but public outlets were required to promote Chang Beer. This time they want money, and from memory, the sum of 500 million Baht was mentioned.

Bar owners better check this out thoroughly before refusing to pay.

[GuestHouse]

Payment Method 1.

The TV Company Charge Beer Chang a fee to have rights to promote their product in the bar + Charge a dozen Soap and Skin Whitening Companies to advertise during the game.

Payment Method 2.

The TV Company realize that Payment Method No 1 did not cover the costs, so they charge 'viewers' for 'viewing'.

Seems fair to me.

[libya 115]

This is not a scam, it is actually a request for bars and clubs showing the live matches via free-to-air channels to pay a 5,000 baht fee.

However, this will be not be possible. Bar and club owners will ignore the request. Maybe a handfull will suffer a temporary police raid.

There was a big meeting held at Pattaya City Hall about this. It was shown on Pattaya Television News Channel.

I presume the rights to show EURO 2008 were sold to Channel 3/5/7 etc. They must understand that further 'public' showing is going to happen in a third world country. What about the public bars in Burkino Faso or Albania? Romania or Chad? They won't be contributing any extra either.

[Mobi]

This is not a scam, it is actually a request for bars and clubs showing the live matches via free-to-air channels to pay a 5,000 baht fee.

However, this will be not be possible. Bar and club owners will ignore the request. Maybe a handfull will suffer a temporary police raid.

There was a big meeting held at Pattaya City Hall about this. It was shown on Pattaya Television News Channel.

I presume the rights to show EURO 2008 were sold to Channel 3/5/7 etc. They must understand that further 'public' showing is going to happen in a third world country. What about the public bars in Burkino Faso or Albania? Romania or Chad? They won't be contributing any extra either.

You may or may not be correct about the outcome, but the rights for Thailand have been sold to a private company - TCC, and according to the report I read, they every right to collect fees for public showing in Thailand. In fact they were bemoaning the fact the England were not in the final as that might effect the viewing interest and potential revenue.

No different to Sky collecting fees for showing football matches in Pubs in the UK.

When you see how tough the police are these days on enforcing payments for Thai music in Karaokes, I wouldn't bet on them not enforcing this pretty strongly.

[YoungFarang13]

OP got owned hard.

my thai friend is sitting with me and her family is all cops, she demands an apology from you OP since you falsely accused the police of wrong doing without evidence

Edited April 22, 2008 by YoungFarang13

[LivinLOS]

So what about if the person doesnt watch it via the Thai free to Air channels but watches it via satellite, south african multichoice or Oz netork now on Astro ??

They would have then paid for the broadcast with thier monthly sub and not rely on the FTA thai version ??

[funfun]

This is not a scam, it is actually a request for bars and clubs showing the live matches via free-to-air channels to pay a 5,000 baht fee.

However, this will be not be possible. Bar and club owners will ignore the request. Maybe a handfull will suffer a temporary police raid.

There was a big meeting held at Pattaya City Hall about this. It was shown on Pattaya Television News Channel.

I presume the rights to show EURO 2008 were sold to Channel 3/5/7 etc. They must understand that further 'public' showing is going to happen in a third world country. What about the public bars in Burkino Faso or Albania? Romania or Chad? They won't be contributing any extra either.

bout right, the price is to show the games in public/ bars resteraunts etc, not for personel viewing, 5000 was the max but most if you read the letter (sorry im on holiday so i havent got one) is about 2000 depending on the size of tv, upto 50in, in pattaya and if you paid in a few days you got 40% off the fee, the company doing it will be all over any bar not licenced and big fines too 50,000, so its a pay up or dont show it public!

when i checked into this they also have 2010 games already!

chris

[jstumbo]

When you watch cable tv or satellite tv, you can do it in your home. As soon as you show them in a public setting, you have to pay for the rights. It is the same way with music in the US. If you buy a CD, you can listen to the music in your home or car, but as soon as you put the cd in the machine at the bar for the customers to listen to, they are breaking the law and need to pay royalties. Crazy I think

[astral]

No different to Sky collecting fees for showing football matches in Pubs in the UK.

No, no, no!!

This is very different.

We are talking about Free to Air TV.

Sky is a pay service, like UBC and can charge extra for pubs and bars.

.......the company doing it will be all over any bar not licenced and big fines too 50,000, so its a pay up or dont show it public!

How can a company fine anyone for watching a public TV service??

This is definitely a scam, possibly supported by the police, for a suitable backhander.

[Mobi]

No different to Sky collecting fees for showing football matches in Pubs in the UK.

No, no, no!!

This is very different.

We are talking about Free to Air TV.

Sky is a pay service, like UBC and can charge extra for pubs and bars.

.......the company doing it will be all over any bar not licenced and big fines too 50,000, so its a pay up or dont show it public!

How can a company fine anyone for watching a public TV service??

This is definitely a scam, possibly supported by the police, for a suitable backhander.

I agree there is a difference, but consider this.

If you are a home Sky subscriber in the Uk, you pay a certain monthly fee for watching football in your own home. If you are a pub or a restaurant you will pay a lot more for providing the same service.

In Thailand, if Euro 2008 was restricted to True Vision or cable. most of the population would not be able to watch it. The free to air Channels do not have the sort of funds to secure the rights. So a private company outlays the funds and does a deal with the free to air channels whereby they get the transmission free for sending to private homes, but commercial undertakings (pubs, bars etc) must pay a fee.

It's all perfectly understandable and it's not a scam. It's just a 3rd World way of doing things, because a majority of the population are on the poverty line and could never afford to pay,and there's is no Sky type channel that a majority of the people can tune into.

You may not agree with it, and that is fair enough, but it doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. A maximum fee of 5,000 Baht ( I understand most will pay much less), for a bar to show ALL the Euro 2008 games. and there will be quite a few.

Maybe they can recover their outlay from the punters - 50 Baht a game or whatever?

[Tony Clifton]

OP got owned hard.

my thai friend is sitting with me and her family is all cops, she demands an apology from you OP since you falsely accused the police of wrong doing without evidence

As in "drug war"

[opengoal]

OP got owned hard.

my thai friend is sitting with me and her family is all cops, she demands an apology from you OP since you falsely accused the police of wrong doing without evidence

SInce when has evidence been important when pursuing a conviction in this country. Police and evidence are never used in the same sentence here.

Is Euro 2008 being shown on UBC, if so does that mean because you have paid them you dont have to pay TCC

[Mobi]

Is Euro 2008 being shown on UBC?

No.