No F.a Cup In Thailand

[MSingh]

MSingh,

Well done. Lets face it my team Forest-Derby wont be on in any case, but its disappointing that no games are on anywhere in Pattaya that I could find. Tomorrow I will get off my 'lazy backside' and send a similar email as yours to someone. Not sure who yet. Any ideas.

I suppose like you, these would be a start:

- [email protected], [email protected]

- [email protected]

I am a Platinum member of UBC and surprised not to get ANY of these games.

Yeah, i just sent mine to teh FA & iuf you get an " Out of Office Reply " back from that Jane Bird, within that email it will give you another email address for a Fella who's doing her work i assume so forward on to him too..

Forest V Derby will be an interesting one & it's a Game i'd love to go to one day as i know the hatred is fierce, some big Games in the next Round...

[delboy]

I've done my bit. I've sent a E-Mail to the 3 addresses posted here for the FA.

My E-mail highlights the notice dated Nov 9th 2007, and asks the question why were the broadcasting rights not sold to ESPN who have a proven track record for broadcasting matches to wide audiences.

If I receive any replies I shall let you all know.

Every little bit helps, as the little boy said when he peed in the sea.

[delboy]

I got the following reply from Stuart Turner at the FA.

I assume everyone that has complained will get a similar letter but, for the other posters on this forum this is what he says

Thank you for your email. Certainly not the first of its type received today but all completely understandable.

As I have replied to all other enquiries, we are pleased that The FA Cup is in such demand in Thailand, however, we are extremely disappointed not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year. We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this season. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

We have in the past enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. However BBTV did not bid for our rights this time around and ESPN Star felt that they could drop Thailand in order to concentrate on winning other, more central, territories for them. The simple fact is that the agreement that The FA signed with an agency in good faith in Novemeber 2007 has been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand, leaving The FA to re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial broadcasters in the territory. This has meant that thus far, we have not been unable to broadact games as intended in what is an important territory for English football. These negotiations, set as they are against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand, have not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record, the agency you reference does not hold the rights any more.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Your sincerely

Stuart Turner

It would appear that ESPN did not bid for the coverage and maybe my previous theory about the Tiger Beer sponsorship was true, who knows?

It seems something is underway to bring the Cup to Thailand, and we can only hope that they succeed.

[bangkok blue]

received a similar reply from Mr. Stuart Turner today..... Think he was a tad pissed off

Dear Mr Nagington

Thank you for your emails of this morning.

We are pleased that The FA Cup is in such demand in Thailand and we have enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. We are however extremely disappointed not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year. We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this season however. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

The simple fact is that the agreement that The FA signed in good faith in Novemeber 2007 has been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand leaving The FA to re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial broadcasters in the territory. These negotiations, set as they are against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand, have not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record, the agency you reference does not hold the rights but when we appoint any agency, we would ensure that no broadcasters is "held to ransom" as you suggest. It would not be in the interest of any agency paying a guaranteed amount to The FA so to do.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Your sisncerely

Stuart Turner

Head of Broadcast

holding anyone ot ransom as you suggest

My Reply......

Dear Mr. Turner,

Thank you for your very prompt reply. I feel I must apologise for the way you may have interpreted my previous e-mail, I did not mean to cause any offence. I did not mean to refer to you, nor the F.A for holding T.V companies to ransom with regards to the F.A Cup broadcasting rights in Thailand. I was more referring to how M-League may have conducted themselves in relation to this issue.

myself, many other ex-pats and Thai football fans over here will feel very much more at ease that this situation is trying to be dealt with and I am personally very grateful for the time you are taking to resolve this issue.

If you could please inform me on any positive developments prior to the 4th round. The ex-pat community of Thailand and the people of Thailand would be very much in debt to you and you will be forever welcome to an all expenses paid tour of Nana Plaza and Soi cowboy on behalf of all Thaivisa.com football fans should you ever choose to visit Bangkok

All the best

Clive

will keep you all posted

[MSingh]

The ex-pat community of Thailand and the people of Thailand would be very much in debt to you and you will be forever welcome to an all expenses paid tour of Nana Plaza and Soi cowboy on behalf of all Thaivisa.com football fans should you ever choose to visit Bangkok

It's a shame David Pleat isn't in charge of this area within the FA, we'd get coverage without a doubt if he was' now that BB's offered that....

[Monkeypants]

Brilliant!

[bangkok blue]

Just had a reply from True, think they have missed our main point and this guy refers more to the scheduling of the football instead of the issue on broadcasting rights and what will be done to secure them....

Dear Mr. Clive:

The purpose of this is to convey to you our sincere apologies for any

inconvenience you may have experienced in our service and thank you very much

for your suggestion & comment, TrueVisions has acknowledged your message and

would very much like to clarify you that usually, there are several things and

conditions of broadcasting in programs from the host channel such as there are

majority interests and program license as you understood very well.

We would also like to clarify more that Program schedules for example, Premier

Leagues, Scottish, French and Dutch League are usually received from the channel

owners 2 months in advance, but they can be changed just a few minutes before

the game start. As this event has been broadcasted live, we are unable to change

or customize it in time even on our Electronic Program Guide. As soon as

TrueVisions is notified by program owners, a message will be shown as still

slide before show time and during breaks. For urgent or important programs,

there will be additional streamer messages at the bottom of your TV screen.

This message will be definitely forwarded to the related party for further

consideration and action where appropriate.

We are so grateful for your trust in our service and support us all time. Write

us again whenever we can be of further help to you. Please contact us at

02-7252525 or [email protected]

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Just to be sure that he has all the information at hand to sort out this sorry mess I replied and passed on the following.

Dear Mr, Chompoonog,

Thank you for your reply, but this still leaves my main question unanswered. The football viewing public of Thailand are not concerned about the electronic programme notification guide, but are more concerned as to what are TruevisionsTV going to do about securing the rights to show the FA Cup this season?

It is being shown in every other country within Asia Via ESPN and Star Sports.

I am aware that the FA of England had signed a contract with a media agency called

M-league, however M-League have now cancelled the contract and no longer hold the distribution rights for the F.A Cup in Thailand.

I have contacted the Head of broadcasting for the F.A in England Mr Stuart Turner already. Here is his reply, below, from my e-mail to him.

Dear Mr Nagington

Thank you for your emails of this morning.

We are pleased that The FA Cup is in such demand in Thailand and we have enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. We are however extremely disappointed not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year. We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this season however. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

The simple fact is that the agreement that The FA signed in good faith in Novemeber 2007 has been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand leaving The FA to re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial broadcasters in the territory. These negotiations, set as they are against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand, have not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record, the agency you reference does not hold the rights but when we appoint any agency, we would ensure that no broadcasters is "held to ransom" as you suggest. It would not be in the interest of any agency paying a guaranteed amount to The FA so to do.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Your sisncerely

Stuart Turner

Head of Broadcast

holding anyone ot ransom as you suggest

I suggest that in light of this information the broadcasting team for Truevisions liase with Mr. Turner at the F.A in England and arrange a suitable rights package for both parties so your customers receive value for their subscription fee.

Mr Stuart Turner can be contacted at [email protected]

Yours Faithfully

Given True all the info they need now to sort it should they want to, judging by the FA's response it's a free market so the ball is in their court as to whether they will secure the rights for it's suffering, paying customers... fingers crossed.

[StevieH]

i had a similar reply back from stuart turner, think it's pretty fair enough to be honest. doesn't sound like it's really the FA's fault, which makes a refreshing change.

[Zodiac]

Well BB keep up the pressure as we all should.

Clearly the reply from TRUE misses the point and fails to understand it.

Does seem however there may be a glimmer of hope if I interpret correctly from what the FA says, course as I mentioned before seems the problem goes back to the communtiy shield and non coverage and that was half a year ago, but a few further suggestions/idea's:

The key seems to me to be getting the Thai TV stations, TRUE etc such as they are here in Thailand to get the rights to show the FA cup games live.

What would help perhaps is Thais contacting the likes of TRUE and other TV stations here putting pressure on the TV executives to get the broadcast rights etc.

The non understanding of your contact to TRUE is revealing and if they received complaints in Thai that could be the spur that is needed.

Also whilst we hope they can get the broadcast rights and have the games broadcast live to the widest possible audience if all else fails and bearing in mind they are cash registers, maybe suggesting to them they put the FA cup games on seperate PPV channels for additional payment could be an incentive to them?

[bangkok blue]

Hmmm.... It's an idea zodiac but think TRUE is expensive enough as it is.... Hopefully though we have started the ball moving.

Although I can speak Thai a bit my writing of it is non-existent. Don't think Thais are the most pro-active of people either when it comes to matters such as this... "No F.A Cup Mai pen rai, anyone for a game of Teakor!?"

[dsfbrit]

I too got a reply from True. They cc;d it to the FA as well. Will it make a difference??? The next set of games are in a couple of weeks and maybe the prospect of Liverpool/Everton and Man U/ Tottenham (and of course Forest/derby) will make the advertisers realise they are missing a quite lerge audience.

Dear *****:

The purpose of this is to convey to you our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced in our service and thank you very much for your suggestion & comment, TrueVisions has acknowledged your message and would very much like to clarify you that usually, there are several things and conditions of broadcasting in programs from the host channel such as there are majority interests and program license as you understood very well.

As you know that ESPN hold the broadcasting rights for Asia, however this excludes Thailand. A media company (...) apparently owns the rights for Thailand but have failed to distribute them in the correct manner.

We would also like to clarify more that Program schedules for example, Premier Leagues, Scottish, French and Dutch League are usually received from the channel owners 2 months in advance, but they can be changed just a few minutes before the game start. As this event has been broadcasted live, we are unable to change or customize it in time even on our Electronic Program Guide. As soon as TrueVisions is notified by program owners, a message will be shown as still slide before show time and during breaks. For urgent or important programs, there will be additional streamer messages at the bottom of your TV screen.

However, this message will be definitely forwarded to the related party for further consideration and action where appropriate.

We are so grateful for your trust in our service and support us all time. Write us again whenever we can be of further help to you. Please contact us at 02-7252525 or [email protected]

[dsfbrit]

Thr FA replied today. I suspect that the more that people continue to complain, the more likely something will be done before the competition is over. I certainly dont want to miss seeing Forest in the final

Dear Mr ####

Thank you for your email. Certainly not the first of its type received

today but all completely understandable.

As I have replied to all other enquiries, we are pleased that The FA Cup

is in such demand in Thailand, however, we are extremely disappointed

not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year.

We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this

season. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

We have in the past enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star

Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. However BBTV did

not bid for our rights this time around and ESPN Star felt that they

could drop Thailand in order to concentrate on winning other, more

central, territories for them. The simple fact is that the agreement

that The FA signed with an agency in good faith in November 2007 has

been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand, leaving The FA to

re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial

broadcasters in the territory. This has meant that thus far, we have not

been unable to broadcast games as intended in what is an important

territory for English football. These negotiations, set as they are

against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand, have

not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record,

the agency you reference does not hold the rights any more.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth

Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Yours sincerely

Mark Shannon | Broadcast Rights Manager

The Football Association

25 Soho Square | London | W1D 4FA

T +44 (0) 20 7745 4565 | M +44 (0) 794 387 5132 | F +44 (0) 20 7745 5565

|

[email protected] | www.TheFA.com

[bkkjames]

sounds to me that the booze ad ban is playing a role somehow in all of this too.

[Jimjim]

sounds to me that the booze ad ban is playing a role somehow in all of this too.

Maybe, as it could be the reason ESPN did not get Premier League rights as well last year. Premier League and FA rights are sold separately in Asia, I believe. At least they have different renewal dates and separate PR releases. They operate as separate entities, anyway, so I don't see why they'd sell TV rights together. Can't find the official FA and Premier League press releases, but see how ESPN got the FA and Premier League rights separately here and here.

But interesting that last year ESPN gave up on Premier League in Thailand and gave up on FA matches this year.

[bkkjames]

sounds to me that the booze ad ban is playing a role somehow in all of this too.

Maybe, as it could be the reason ESPN did not get Premier League rights as well last year. Premier League and FA rights are sold separately in Asia, I believe. At least they have different renewal dates and separate PR releases. They operate as separate entities, anyway, so I don't see why they'd sell TV rights together. Can't find the official FA and Premier League press releases, but see how ESPN got the FA and Premier League rights separately here and here.

But interesting that last year ESPN gave up on Premier League in Thailand and gave up on FA matches this year.

ESPN did not give up on the EPL in Thailand. True decided it did not want to pay the fee to ESPN /STAR and went a different route.

[Jimjim]

ESPN did not give up on the EPL in Thailand. True decided it did not want to pay the fee to ESPN /STAR and went a different route.

Different route? Uh, they bought the rights for a large sum of money directly paid to the Premier League instead of ESPN. ESPN gave up as they lost and did not bid higher than True.

[bangkok blue]

Not sure this booze ban has much to do with it really, if that was the case then Channel 7 would not be showing the carling cup, from the reply that stuart turner gave it seems as though it's a free market and any number of terriestrial or cable operators could get the rights to all or some games, True, ESPN Ch3 , Ch7 even NBT or WE-TV could bid... I suspect Thai T.V may well get it unless ESPN throw their hat back into the ring or TRUEsport decide to bid.

[bkkjames]

suffice to say that all our farang letters to True will go no where fast as long as the local population's facination with football is extended only to the EPL top 4-5 and those times when these teams meet up in a FA Cup or Carling Cup final.

[binnsy]

Hi

Being a supporter of a championship side i would love to watch the game against Chelsea in the next round.Why can we not have it on PAY PER VIEW

That is if they get past Southend

[StevieH]

suffice to say that all our farang letters to True will go no where fast as long as the local population's facination with football is extended only to the EPL top 4-5 and those times when these teams meet up in a FA Cup or Carling Cup final.

agree, but i can't really blame the local population for that. it's those clubs that have aggressively marketed themselves to this part of the world so it's very much a chicken / egg scenario.

[delboy]

ESPN did not give up on the EPL in Thailand. True decided it did not want to pay the fee to ESPN /STAR and went a different route.

I don't believe we have seen any proof of this anywhere, we don't even know if ESPN bid for the EPL TV rights. Maybe they did and were outbid by True, we just haven't seen any proof.

We do know that neither ESPN or BBTV bid for the TV rights to broadcast the FA Cup.

Tiger Beer is a big sponsor of football matches and football related proogrammes on ESPN, whereas BBTV and True use Chang Beer sponsorship and do not show adverts for the beer, but rely on logos on screen to advertise the product. As Chang Beer seem to approve this, the situation is not the same.

It seems possible to me that Tiger Beer refused to sponsor the football matches on ESPN if they were broadcast to Thailand. It's a bit of a Tit-for Tat response, you censor our ads, so we won't let you watch the football. ESPN didn't want to upset one of their leading sponsors, so bid for the TV rights for North Korea instead of for Thailand.

I say again, we don't know the full picture we can only guess.

I note that the EPL is tendering soon for bids for the TV rights for their matches from 2010. Will True or ESPN bid?

[dsfbrit]

Well at least the chaps at TRUE are telling no lies. An email that I received that was short and to the point:

Dear Mr. xxxx:

We have to be honest to you that we do not have any plan to live FA Cup. However, once it becomes available, we will inform you.

We are so grateful for your trust in our service and support us all time. Write us again whenever we can be of further help to you. Please contact us at 02-7252525 or [email protected]

Hmmm.... I will keep this to send to them in 4 months time when they want me to renew this overpriced sports package. The football season is just to a close then, so cancelling the service until the start of the season is the LEAST I will do.

[MSingh]

My reply from the FA..

From: Mark Shannon <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: FA Cup Broadcasting in Thailand

To: [email protected]

Cc: "Dominic Berner" <[email protected]>, "Stefanie Gilmour" <[email protected]>

Date: Tuesday, 6 January, 2009, 5:45 PM

Dear Mr Singh,

Thank you for your email. Certainly not the first of its type received today but all completely understandable.

As I have replied to all other enquiries, we are pleased that The FA Cup is in such demand in Thailand , however, we are extremely disappointed not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year. We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this season. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

We have in the past enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. However BBTV did not bid for our rights this time around and ESPN Star felt that they could drop Thailand in order to concentrate on winning other, more central, territories for them. The simple fact is that the agreement that The FA signed with an agency in good faith in November 2007 has been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand , leaving The FA to re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial broadcasters in the territory. This has meant that thus far, we have not been unable to broadcast games as intended in what is an important territory for English football. These negotiations, set as they are against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand , have not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record, the agency you reference does not hold the rights any more.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Yours sincerely

Mark Shannon | Broadcast Rights Manager

The Football Association

25 Soho Square | London | W1D 4FA

T +44 (0) 20 7745 4565 | M +44 (0) 794 387 5132 | F +44 (0) 20 7745 5565 |

[email protected] | www.TheFA.com

[bangkok blue]

A reply from True...

Dear Mr. Clive:

We apologize to inform you that FA Cup will not be showing on TrueVisions channels to the time being.

However, we would also like to ensure you that the related party has taken an action to secure the rights back again.

So TRUE sport don't want it. This statement from them may also mean ESPN won't be showing it either. So this seems to leave Thai terristrial channels only.

At least it does some that the complaints are being taken seriously. Think we should all badger the F.A about a week prior to F.A cup 4th round date as there are some juicy ties Manyoo Vs Spurs, the scouse derby and hopefully Watford Vs the mighty LCFC!

[mrtoad]

My reply from the FA..

From: Mark Shannon <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: FA Cup Broadcasting in Thailand

To: [email protected]

Cc: "Dominic Berner" <[email protected]>, "Stefanie Gilmour" <[email protected]>

Date: Tuesday, 6 January, 2009, 5:45 PM

Dear Mr Singh,

Thank you for your email. Certainly not the first of its type received today but all completely understandable.

As I have replied to all other enquiries, we are pleased that The FA Cup is in such demand in Thailand , however, we are extremely disappointed not to be able to bring FA Cup fans the competition thus far this year. We are working hard to remedy this situation for the remainder of this season. Please allow me to explain how this situation has arisen.

We have in the past enjoyed a long relationship with both ESPN Star Sports and BBTV in the region for a number of years. However BBTV did not bid for our rights this time around and ESPN Star felt that they could drop Thailand in order to concentrate on winning other, more central, territories for them. The simple fact is that the agreement that The FA signed with an agency in good faith in November 2007 has been reneged upon by the licensee for Thailand , leaving The FA to re-open a number of direct negotiations with both cable and terrestrial broadcasters in the territory. This has meant that thus far, we have not been unable to broadcast games as intended in what is an important territory for English football. These negotiations, set as they are against a backdrop of financial and political meltdown in Thailand , have not been easy, but I sense we are near to conclusion. For the record, the agency you reference does not hold the rights any more.

We will continue to try and strike a firm deal before the FA Cup Fourth Round but pleased be advised of our best intentions in this regard.

Yours sincerely

Mark Shannon | Broadcast Rights Manager

The Football Association

25 Soho Square | London | W1D 4FA

T +44 (0) 20 7745 4565 | M +44 (0) 794 387 5132 | F +44 (0) 20 7745 5565 |

[email protected] | www.TheFA.com

Had the same reply from the FA, at least they are making an effort to reply to the e-mails, and it does appear that TURD have no intention of showing the FA cup.

[Jimjim]

True'll show it if they have a channel that bought the rights to it, obviously, they just have no intention of buying it themselves.

[Zodiac]

A reply from True...

Dear Mr. Clive:

We apologize to inform you that FA Cup will not be showing on TrueVisions channels to the time being.

However, we would also like to ensure you that the related party has taken an action to secure the rights back again.

So TRUE sport don't want it. This statement from them may also mean ESPN won't be showing it either. So this seems to leave Thai terristrial channels only.

At least it does some that the complaints are being taken seriously. Think we should all badger the F.A about a week prior to F.A cup 4th round date as there are some juicy ties Manyoo Vs Spurs, the scouse derby and hopefully Watford Vs the mighty LCFC!

Agree, it seems to be the situation from reading the correspondence that TRUE and ESPN etc are not bothered so left to the terrestial channels.

I took a look at some of the recent semi finals of the League Cup and a good job done by the local broadcasters, that is, when the match was on live with the English commentary!

And the fact that both games were interesting in different ways may further persuade the local stations to get the FA Cup.

So as is stated, right to badger the FA nearer the next round date and the terrestial channel too unless there is a conclusion in the interim.

[MSingh]

Think we should all badger the F.A about a week prior to F.A cup 4th round date as there are some juicy ties Manyoo Vs Spurs, the scouse derby and hopefully Watford Vs the mighty LCFC!

Leicester ??

Hartlepool V's The happy Hammers is the fiorst Game on TV of the weekend, 19:40 Thai time on the Saturday..

COME ON YOU IRONS..

[PostmanPat]

Once again, UBC/Truevision excells itself. Last weekend various FA Cup 3rd Round games were advertised in advance, but when I sat down on Saturday evening, with my Platinum (2155 baht a month!!) package, not a single FA Cup game was shown.

Yesterday, Saturday, the ESPN Channel is advertising its forthcoming sports highlights, including, FA Cup replays and 4th Round.

HOWEVER, on the screen is a message, "Not available in Thailand"

WHY??? If its being broadcast by ESPN channels including Star Sports, I guess that means its on in Hong Kong, Singapore etc...but not Thailand??! Again I ask...WHY??

Is this yet another example of the cheapskate Truevision taking maximum money from us and yet not being prepared to pay for the FA Cup from whoever provides it, or is there a more plausible explanation.

I have tried calling them, but frankly, you just get girls who answer in what I might call "customer service gibberish" but clearly know nothing and cannot answer my reasonable question!!

Bearing in mind just how much the FA Cup is loved by Soccer fans, and bearing in mind how much Soccer is loved by Thais, I would have thought that an explanation would be reasonable??!!

Can anyone throw any light on any of this?

[easy_jim]

ESPN has the broadcastings rights for the FA Cup for most countries in this region but not for Thailand. It is not really Truevision's fault. The FA sells the broadcasting rights to the highest bidder and in Thailand this turned out to be a third party (M-League I think they are called). It seems this company assumed they could sell the rights on for a healthy profit but at the moment all the broadcasters are refusing to meet their asking price. So unless they are willing to compromise we will continue to miss out on the FA Cup in Thailand.