Truevisons (UBC) To Cancel BBC Entertainment From 1st June

[theoldgit]

Well have reduced from platinum to gold, may reduce further at a later stage, cancelled my Value A La Cart Package while I was at it as they charge a higher rate if you are on the gold.

Spent an absolute age getting through but was treated with the utmost courtesy when I did, felt sorry for the young lady I dealt with, she did admit that they had been overwhelmed with cancellations.

[brewsterbudgen]

There's a good letter in today's Bangkok Post, which suggests it's all down to saving costs (what a surprise!).

I know most of it's <deleted>, but I don't want to cancel my Platinum subscription as I enjoy some programmes on Starworld like Seinfeld, Friends, American Idol and don't want to lose them too

Edited May 4, 2009 by brewsterbudgen

[Wiggy]

Here's the latest reply from True - another load of corporate tosh and lies.

Dear Mr. Mike:

We truly apologize for the inconvenience that you might have experienced in our service.

Please allow us to clarify to you that we made the change based on 3 main factors.

1. The contract expiration of the three channels.

2. The conditions of the contracts renewal.

3. And TrueVisions’ continuing policy of acquiring newer and quality content for its paying subscribers for their ultimate satisfaction.

After considering such factors we have made the decision to change the 3 channels as follows:

BBC Entertainment to be replaced by AXN Beyond on digital channel 38 Animax to be replaced by All Sports Network (ASN) on digital channel 40 STC to be replaced by Nickelodeon on digital channel 42 We are sure that the 3 new channels will meet the satisfaction of our Platinum and Silver members by program category interest and program quality.

Under current economic circumstance, is the change considered a way to lower operating cost?

Nothing as such but the overall change has been carefully considered by in all important perspectives by our management.

Is the change of the 3 channels, for whatever reasons done without consideration for the existing viewers of the channels and why were they not asked for their opinions before hand?

TrueVisions does a monthly survey of its subscribers viewing preference and we confirm that we have the satisfaction of our customers at heart always.

What if subscribers don’t like the 3 new channels?

We would like you to watch the 3 new channels first and if you are really not satisfied with the program we also welcome your feedback at TrueVisions Care 0-2725-2525.

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]

________________________________

02-7252525àPress 9 for Englishà Press 8 for Platinum and Gold serviceà Enter subscriber number ….followed by(#)à Press 1 to submità press number 1 for Billing and Payment, 2 for Technical support, or 3 for General Information…, your line will be transferred to the representative shortly.

________________________________

Customer Information

Please be informed that TrueVisions will change the process whereby Tax Invoices are issued; changing from an accrual basis to a cash basis. Therefore, where we currently issue a Tax in the same document together with the statement, we will amend this process so that in the future the Tax Invoice will be issued only after the payment has been made.

________________________________

Best regards,

Mr. Wichian Chompoonog

Support & Non-Voice Management

Tel+66(0) 2725-2525

Fax+66(0) 2725-2500

Email:[email protected]

เปิดชีวิตมุมมองใหม่ เปิด ทรูวิชั่นส์

True Visions Public Company Limited

118/1 Tipco Tower, Rama VI Road,

Samsen Nai, Phayathai, Bangkok 10400

www.truevisionstv.com

[localangmo]

If you want to email a complaint to True.. follow this link

http://www.truevisionstv.com/contactus.aspx?t=1241413910522

Not that it will do much good.. But hey, worth a try. We can be the BBC E Shirts and take our protest to the streets

UBC is now 100% US centric junk. Only one alternative for the rest of us is to be taken away..

I hope my building management agree to me putting a dish on the roof.. Then I will get ABC TV and BBC news plus the freebies in the building.. and totally ditch true lackofvision...

I hated paying for Platnium in the first place.. Just so I may have BBC World News and BBC Entertainment.. Now Entertainment is gone. I will be downgrading to Gold as of June 1st and hopefully ditch UBC altogether in the near future.. Yesterday I started downloading Spooks Season 6 on Bittorrent.

How about making the packages fit peoples needs. News / Movies / Sport / reality and so on then we can all get what we want and not pay for programmes we are not interested in. Crazy concept I know.. but at the moment everyone subsidises other channels with the current silver / gold platinum.

[theoldgit]

[quote name='localangmo' date='2009-05-04 13:51:03' post='2711313'

Yesterday I started downloading Spooks Season 6 on Bittorrent.

It's well worth the long download time, but well worth watching, you can also get Spooks 7.

Ironically I downloaded it via my True Internet connection.

[CWMcMurray]

I know this may not be a popular position on this thread, but I actually like the change.

Yes I am American...

Yes I realize that the programming is already overwhelmingly American programming, but I have looked at what AXN Beyond offers and what BBC offers and I would prefer to watch AXN Beyond.

So while I understand many Brits anger over this, I am happy with the change.

[jamesjdaly]

My wife is just off the phone to True Visions and apparently they are overwhelmed with complaints and threatened cancellations.

Apparently, these noises are reaching the big bosses upstairs. If you have a platinum package, you will only have to pay for the gold this month as they will try and renegotiate with the BBC This is to try and keep customers should BBCE never be scrapped.

All is not lost. KEEP ON COMPLAINING.

Edited May 4, 2009 by jamesjdaly

[CWMcMurray]

There's a good letter in today's Bangkok Post, which suggests it's all down to saving costs (what a surprise!).

I know most of it's <deleted>, but I don't want to cancel my Platinum subscription as I enjoy some programmes on Starworld like Seinfeld, Friends, American Idol and don't want to lose them too

So why not down grade further to silver package and get Star World back...

[Jimjim]

Amazing how much we care about TV, isn't it? I'm not different, but just saying. I should probably care much less about TV, really.

As for other alternatives to True Visions, I know I could figure it all out of I tried, but when I'm in Bangkok I feel I won't care that much about TV to try. One alternative nobody has mentioned is a slingbox. Google it. What you do is, if you have a friend or somebody who will let you connect the slingbox to their satellite/cable connection in the U.S. or Europe or wherever, then you can connect your computer to the slingbox and watch programs from your home country on your computer. And it doesn't matter what they're watching, you can watch whatever you want through your slingbox software on a different channel, or even watch recorded programs. Then, you could hook up a TV that has capability to connect to your computer and voila, you have your favorite programs from home on a TV. That's something I've considered, but not sure if I'd bother to actually do it.

[R123]

My wife is just off the phone to True Visions and apparently they are overwhelmed with complaints and threatened cancellations.

Apparently, these noises are reaching the big bosses upstairs. If you have a platinum package, you will only have to pay for the gold this month as they will try and renegotiate with the BBC This is to try and keep customers should BBCE never be scrapped.

All is not lost. KEEP ON COMPLAINING.

Yes well done James. I send a complaint email this morning to TRUE along the lines that many people subscribe only because of BBC E.

As to those who like the change well by all means have AXN or whatever but do not get rid of the BBC E.

I pay my subs a year in advance so not sure how that will affect my payment.

And the secret seems to be get people to complain in Thai.

Incidentally I know of western educated Thais who very much enjoy some of the BBC E programmes.

Edited May 4, 2009 by R123

[andy1308]

Here's the latest reply from True - another load of corporate tosh and lies.

Dear Mr. Mike:

We truly apologize for the inconvenience that you might have experienced in our service.

Please allow us to clarify to you that we made the change based on 3 main factors.

1. The contract expiration of the three channels.

2. The conditions of the contracts renewal.

3. And TrueVisions’ continuing policy of acquiring newer and quality content for its paying subscribers for their ultimate satisfaction.

After considering such factors we have made the decision to change the 3 channels as follows:

BBC Entertainment to be replaced by AXN Beyond on digital channel 38 Animax to be replaced by All Sports Network (ASN) on digital channel 40 STC to be replaced by Nickelodeon on digital channel 42 We are sure that the 3 new channels will meet the satisfaction of our Platinum and Silver members by program category interest and program quality.

Under current economic circumstance, is the change considered a way to lower operating cost?

Nothing as such but the overall change has been carefully considered by in all important perspectives by our management.

Is the change of the 3 channels, for whatever reasons done without consideration for the existing viewers of the channels and why were they not asked for their opinions before hand?

TrueVisions does a monthly survey of its subscribers viewing preference and we confirm that we have the satisfaction of our customers at heart always.

What if subscribers don’t like the 3 new channels?

We would like you to watch the 3 new channels first and if you are really not satisfied with the program we also welcome your feedback at TrueVisions Care 0-2725-2525.

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]

________________________________

02-7252525àPress 9 for Englishà Press 8 for Platinum and Gold serviceà Enter subscriber number ….followed by(#)à Press 1 to submità press number 1 for Billing and Payment, 2 for Technical support, or 3 for General Information…, your line will be transferred to the representative shortly.

________________________________

Customer Information

Please be informed that TrueVisions will change the process whereby Tax Invoices are issued; changing from an accrual basis to a cash basis. Therefore, where we currently issue a Tax in the same document together with the statement, we will amend this process so that in the future the Tax Invoice will be issued only after the payment has been made.

________________________________

Best regards,

Mr. Wichian Chompoonog

Support & Non-Voice Management

Tel+66(0) 2725-2525

Fax+66(0) 2725-2500

Email:[email protected]

เปิดชีวิตมุมมองใหม่ เปิด ทรูวิชั่นส์

True Visions Public Company Limited

118/1 Tipco Tower, Rama VI Road,

Samsen Nai, Phayathai, Bangkok 10400

www.truevisionstv.com

I just had exactly the same email reply to my complaint to them earlier this morning. I believe if enough people complain and threaten to cancel their subscriptions something might get done. (I can live in hope, can't I ?)

[localangmo]

I know this may not be a popular position on this thread, but I actually like the change.

Yes I am American...

Yes I realize that the programming is already overwhelmingly American programming, but I have looked at what AXN Beyond offers and what BBC offers and I would prefer to watch AXN Beyond.

So while I understand many Brits anger over this, I am happy with the change.

I am not a 'Brit'. I am Australian.. I want an alternative to full on American TV.

We see more and more of our TV back home being swamped by American sitcoms.. Why? Becuase it is cheap. If we didn't have laws that forced the TV stations to produce local content.. it would all be American TV.. Not because the shows are necessarily better.. But because they are cheap.. The US market is huge and these programmes can be sold off for a fraction of the cost that the ABC and BBC have to bare when making a series for a much smaller market.

I suspect cost saving and pushing up the margins is what is going on at True.

I don't speak mandarin, French or German.. So CCTV / TV5 and DV are out of the question. Looks like American TV is going to be the only thing left :-(

[pattayaGaz]

Cancelled my Platinum subscription today and reverted back to Gold, told the woman at the True payment centre in Pattaya that I couldn't beleive how stupid the management of her company are for getting rid of the only quality entertainment station in their line up , she told me that many complaints have been made, many Farang not happy, If theres one thing that the Brits do well it's complain, so hopefully True might yet go back on their actions , I have sent a couple of mails and received standard answers as well, if they don't change the decision I will be looking at getting JSAT to install a system but can't decide on which of the two alternative packages to go for, ASTRO from Malaysia which obviously would be a strong signal given the geography, but worry that the censorship given that it is a muslim country may be worse than what we get here in Thailand or Multichoice from South Africa which may suffer from significant rain fade due to the signal strength, any advice would be welcome, both these packages carry the BBC Entertainment channels by the way and according to JSAT who put you in touch with the Thai distibutor of the cards costs around 12500Bht per year, I figure 18 months and the cost of the system is recouped.

[Old Man River]

As am American who wants to see ASN and Nickelodeon, I really don't care what happens on whether BBC Entertainment is retained over AXN Beyond. However, I am interested in seeing if Truevisions acquiesces to the expat community over what they think the Thai community prefers.

[brewsterbudgen]

There's a good letter in today's Bangkok Post, which suggests it's all down to saving costs (what a surprise!).

I know most of it's <deleted>, but I don't want to cancel my Platinum subscription as I enjoy some programmes on Starworld like Seinfeld, Friends, American Idol and don't want to lose them too

So why not down grade further to silver package and get Star World back...

Does Silver get Premiership football, BBC World Service radio & History?

Had a reply from True - word for word the same as everyone else's.

[JetsetBkk]

... Yesterday I started downloading Spooks Season 6 on Bittorrent...

Already have it, and season 7. I think "TheBox.bz" will get a lot of new members from Asia soon.

I will also be looking into JSAT and cable.

[lor]

I got my sat system installed about 5 months ago from a local Pattaya supplier. It is a 10 foot C/Ku band moveable dish and cost 9,000 baht to be installed. It took ages to get my Dreambox to control the dish correctly but now I can watch lots of stations. I prefer the MNet package from Africa, I get BBC Entertainment, News and Sky News as well as many other good stations.

In addition I also have Sophon Cable. Used to hate it but now it has Universal and Sci-Fi channel so now I have everything I need and cancelled my True Subscription. I am already in profit!

Chris

[idevelop]

I just emailed and said I would cancel... It is a good idea to swamp them with emails.. who knows!

[jfchandler]

To the poster above who said True's programming lineup is all U.S. centric TV....

That may be true in some respects (principally because the U.S. probably CREATES more TV programming than other countries), but it's certainly not true in many other respects... For example:

SPORTS: True's programming lineup is FILLED (now and the past) with various versions of European football matches virtually 24/7 on multiple channels (as an American, of course, we call it soccer). In contrast, Americans are lucky to get one or two pro football games per week during the season, and shoddy coverage of professional baseball and basketball, and worse for everything else. I'm just guessing here, but for sports, in terms of hours of programming, True's mix has got to be 90% European - 10% American or more...

NEWS: I personally don't care for it, but forget finding FOX News on True, and forget finding the U.S. version of CNN here. Instead, there is BBC News, which is great, and the European version of CNN. So for news, I'd hardly call that U.S. centric. Rather, some might consider it actually a bit tilted toward Europeans on balance.

I'm glad other folks, including Brits here, are fighting to keep BBC Entertainment in True's lineup. Although not my cup of tea, I know it's a good channel with quality programs. But just know, the fight you're waging now is one Americans here have been waging for years to try to get some better balance to True's sporting lineup.

At least, you've had BBC Entertainment all these years, until the recent plan to take it way. For Americans, we've NEVER had a decent balance of sporting coverage here relative to European coverage. And of course, Americans aren't the only ones who are interested in American pro sports.

[theoldgit]

I just emailed and said I would cancel... It is a good idea to swamp them with emails.. who knows!

I emailed yesterday and got their generic response, I later replied with a further comment and the email was undeliverable, I can only assume their mailbox was full.

[pattayaGaz]

I got my sat system installed about 5 months ago from a local Pattaya supplier. It is a 10 foot C/Ku band moveable dish and cost 9,000 baht to be installed. It took ages to get my Dreambox to control the dish correctly but now I can watch lots of stations. I prefer the MNet package from Africa, I get BBC Entertainment, News and Sky News as well as many other good stations.

In addition I also have Sophon Cable. Used to hate it but now it has Universal and Sci-Fi channel so now I have everything I need and cancelled my True Subscription. I am already in profit!

Chris

Hi Chris, Where in Pattaya is the supplier, what was the total cost for the equipment and instillation and did they help you get the MNET Package or did you find a Thai distributor of the smartcard yourself , one other question what Premier football coverage does MNET have.

[brewsterbudgen]

To the poster above who said True's programming lineup is all U.S. centric TV....

That may be true in some respects (principally because the U.S. probably CREATES more TV programming than other countries), but it's certainly not true in many other respects... For example:

SPORTS: True's programming lineup is FILLED (now and the past) with various versions of European football matches virtually 24/7 on multiple channels (as an American, of course, we call it soccer). In contrast, Americans are lucky to get one or two pro football games per week during the season, and shoddy coverage of professional baseball and basketball, and worse for everything else. I'm just guessing here, but for sports, in terms of hours of programming, True's mix has got to be 90% European - 10% American or more...

NEWS: I personally don't care for it, but forget finding FOX News on True, and forget finding the U.S. version of CNN here. Instead, there is BBC News, which is great, and the European version of CNN. So for news, I'd hardly call that U.S. centric. Rather, some might consider it actually a bit tilted toward Europeans on balance.

I'm glad other folks, including Brits here, are fighting to keep BBC Entertainment in True's lineup. Although not my cup of tea, I know it's a good channel with quality programs. But just know, the fight you're waging now is one Americans here have been waging for years to try to get some better balance to True's sporting lineup.

At least, you've had BBC Entertainment all these years, until the recent plan to take it way. For Americans, we've NEVER had a decent balance of sporting coverage here relative to European coverage. And of course, Americans aren't the only ones who are interested in American pro sports.

Football (soccer) is really an international sport and the EPL is hugely popular throughout Asia. American sports do not have the same appeal. Mind you, baseball and basketball are shown a lot on ESPN/Star, as is golf which is also on True. You can't really criticise True when they don't have the rights to show particular sports.

BBCE does not show sport and while there are many channels showing American comedy and drama shows, BBCE is (was) the only one showing British made comedy and drama.

Not sure I agree that CNN is Euro-centric. Larry King, Anderson 360, bloody Wolf bloody Blitzer seem to be on all the time!!

Edited May 5, 2009 by brewsterbudgen

[jamesjdaly]

KEEP ON SENDING THOSE E-MAILS OF COMPLAINT!!

[localangmo]

To the poster above who said True's programming lineup is all U.S. centric TV....

That may be true in some respects (principally because the U.S. probably CREATES more TV programming than other countries), but it's certainly not true in many other respects... For example:

SPORTS: True's programming lineup is FILLED (now and the past) with various versions of European football matches virtually 24/7 on multiple channels (as an American, of course, we call it soccer). In contrast, Americans are lucky to get one or two pro football games per week during the season, and shoddy coverage of professional baseball and basketball, and worse for everything else. I'm just guessing here, but for sports, in terms of hours of programming, True's mix has got to be 90% European - 10% American or more...

NEWS: I personally don't care for it, but forget finding FOX News on True, and forget finding the U.S. version of CNN here. Instead, there is BBC News, which is great, and the European version of CNN. So for news, I'd hardly call that U.S. centric. Rather, some might consider it actually a bit tilted toward Europeans on balance.

I'm glad other folks, including Brits here, are fighting to keep BBC Entertainment in True's lineup. Although not my cup of tea, I know it's a good channel with quality programs. But just know, the fight you're waging now is one Americans here have been waging for years to try to get some better balance to True's sporting lineup.

At least, you've had BBC Entertainment all these years, until the recent plan to take it way. For Americans, we've NEVER had a decent balance of sporting coverage here relative to European coverage. And of course, Americans aren't the only ones who are interested in American pro sports.

I was not referring to Sports.. I don't watch those channels.. More regarding the comedy, movies, adventure etc..

Would be better is the channels were classified in a way that we could select what we really wanted.. rather than silver / gold / platinum and the way True want us to watch.. I for one would not have one sports channel.. Most likly news , documentary (discovery, natgeo etc), BBC Entertainment and I would be done.. Lets the sports lovers have all they want and they can pay for it.

[localangmo]

Jut informed True lackof Vision to downgrade my subscription on 1st June.

500 baht a month to the alternative dish I intend to put on the roof once the buidling management approve.

[Cuban]

KEEP ON SENDING THOSE E-MAILS OF COMPLAINT!!

PM me the email address and rough wording - I'm happy to support your cause.

[jamesjdaly]

[email protected]

[k2chris]

Hi I am moving to Thailand at the end of the Summer. I am interested in working out how to watch UK TV. I put up a post in another part of the Forum and got some good feedback. It is nice to know there is a good forum with friendly. I am currently in France and have used a SKY dish for my TV which has obviously been great as we get all the Freeview channels. I know I cant do that in Thailand, the more I read on here it sounds like you had UK TV but are about to lose it. I have just tested the Lamnia VPN and it works great in France ( normally BBc Iplayer doesnt work here) I was impressed I only have a 1mb connection here ( back of beyond in the Medoc) and I watched the snooker final on it last night and it was very good.

What I wanted to know was does it work in Thailand, can you use a VPN in Thailand? What connection speeds are available. Anyone using Lamnia already? It seems pretty impressive to me so I think I have my TV solution if it works in Thailand.

Thanks

[Cuban]

[email protected]

Done.

[Wiggy]

To the poster above who said True's programming lineup is all U.S. centric TV....

That may be true in some respects (principally because the U.S. probably CREATES more TV programming than other countries), but it's certainly not true in many other respects... For example:

SPORTS: True's programming lineup is FILLED (now and the past) with various versions of European football matches virtually 24/7 on multiple channels (as an American, of course, we call it soccer). In contrast, Americans are lucky to get one or two pro football games per week during the season, and shoddy coverage of professional baseball and basketball, and worse for everything else. I'm just guessing here, but for sports, in terms of hours of programming, True's mix has got to be 90% European - 10% American or more...

NEWS: I personally don't care for it, but forget finding FOX News on True, and forget finding the U.S. version of CNN here. Instead, there is BBC News, which is great, and the European version of CNN. So for news, I'd hardly call that U.S. centric. Rather, some might consider it actually a bit tilted toward Europeans on balance.

I'm glad other folks, including Brits here, are fighting to keep BBC Entertainment in True's lineup. Although not my cup of tea, I know it's a good channel with quality programs. But just know, the fight you're waging now is one Americans here have been waging for years to try to get some better balance to True's sporting lineup.

At least, you've had BBC Entertainment all these years, until the recent plan to take it way. For Americans, we've NEVER had a decent balance of sporting coverage here relative to European coverage. And of course, Americans aren't the only ones who are interested in American pro sports.

I was not referring to Sports.. I don't watch those channels.. More regarding the comedy, movies, adventure etc..

Would be better is the channels were classified in a way that we could select what we really wanted.. rather than silver / gold / platinum and the way True want us to watch.. I for one would not have one sports channel.. Most likly news , documentary (discovery, natgeo etc), BBC Entertainment and I would be done.. Lets the sports lovers have all they want and they can pay for it.

My sentiments exactly - see my earlier post.