True Move Not Renewing Asn Contract?

[brianbxb]

THere goes my platinum package. ASN was why I upgraded.

I had it on the silver package...gutted to see it go!

Things can move quickly in Thailand - ASN has re-emerged on Cable (CTH) as GM-Sports - it says it is a tst broadcast and you need to switch from PAL to SECAM to get a reasonable BLACK AND WHITE picture - and the commentary is in Thai but watchable ( Green Bay Atlanta right now ) nevertheless. Brian Chumphon

[brianbxb]

It is back but on Cable (CTH) and called GM Sports ( GM Grammy ? ) - it is a test broadcast and poor picture ( I switched from PAL to SECAM to get a reasonably watchable B&W picure ) and a Thai commentary. Watching Green Bay at Atlanta rigth now. Brian Chumphon

[rwilem]

Well, perhaps beating a dead horse, but the company should hear it from the viewers. Someone other than the guy who's been responding to complaints with that form letter answered my query about True Visions getting back some early Monday AM games on their own, as they had done for years. As another poster reported that True may be attempting to get some games on their own, that looks dead according to this response.

Dear Mr. Wilem:

We are so sorry for any inconvenience caused and late reply. However, please be informed that according that ASN was secured the right to broadcast by other company in Thailand so we are afraid of not being able to broadcast NFL according to the above reason.TrueVisions would like to apologize for this inconvenience once again.

Thank you for your kindness and continued support. Contact us again whenever we may be of further assistance. Please contact us at 02-7252525 from 08.00 A.M. to 10.00 P.M. - or [email protected] from 09.00 A.M. to 06.00 P.M.

Best regards,

Ms. Pawadee Rukrung

I have already cancelled the True service, but sent this in response.

Ms. Rukrung,

This is not simply 'an inconvenience', as you write. No, not having NFL games is a deal-breaker. This is not something for which you can just apologize to viewers and think that's it. Not having NFL games means I am done with True, I have already cancelled. Dropped off the gear and cancelled everything. No more.

And what were we talking about here, just two games a week? That's all! Especially when you seem to show literally hundreds of soccer matches in a month. All year round, too, I might add. The NFL season is just four months, and another month for the few games in the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

And I assume True will not have the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl this season? I take it you are aware that True/UBD/IBC has always aired those games for as long as I can remember in Thailand, going back perhaps as many as 20 years. Dropping them will be an 'inconvenience' to viewers, too?

Your company has bungled this so badly, and the entire episode demonstrates to me and others once again how little consideration you really have for your customers. Both present and former.

[chmod777]

I am watching ASN right now on the new 1 Sky Grammy system, it is a little different from the ASN I am used to: defaults to Thai audio, but can be changed to English. Still has the "TEST RUN" bug in the corner.

As far as the rest of the channels on this system, I didn't see anything that much interested me, but my wife seems pleased. So, it is the same as Truevisions, where I only watched ASN, but I think my wife has more to enjoy.

It gives me great satisfaction to be finished with True, they are dead to me now.

We'll see what happens when the free period is over: if I don't like the subscription options, still have plenty of free channels for my wife, and I will watch NFL over the internet.

Then I will have the satisfaction to be finished with ASN...

[ChiangMaiThai]

TRUE and ASN won't have utter contempt for their customers in a few years when the internet is more reliable here and people switch to streaming any content they want from any country they want to their TV's cutting both of these useless companies completely out of the picture.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

That's a nice thought...except...

ASN is a TV broadcaster... In the future, they can distribute their programming through whatever means is used... cable... internet... satellite or something not currently even known.

And True, apart from their lousy cable TV operation, is one of the largest ISPs in Thailand. So they're going to get a piece of you, almost any way you cut it...

[ChiangMaiThai]

That's a nice thought...except...

ASN is a TV broadcaster... In the future, they can distribute their programming through whatever means is used... cable... internet... satellite or something not currently even known.

And True, apart from their lousy cable TV operation, is one of the largest ISPs in Thailand. So they're going to get a piece of you, almost any way you cut it...

They can have a piece of me as long as I get what I want. But the point is that we are not too far away from being able to see whatever we want whenever we want. It's doable now, but a little pricy. I did a year of spending about 10,000 Baht a month for super fast internet and a Slingbox rental from New York. Internet was by TOT.

Via a PC connected to my big screen TV, I watched live sports and all the other superior content that DirecTV in the US offers. As the price comes down and the set up becomes more simple, TRUE Visions and regional broadcasters will become obsolete in many cases. (But sure, wife will always want UBC since they offer Thai subtitles and audio - That will be the only reason to consider keeping it).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, it so happened, I cut the TrueVisions cable today... As promised above, had the Happy Home Cable installers out...and they finished in about 30 minutes... Two service points set up at home... 1700 baht for 6 months service (less than 300 baht per month).... 80+ channels including BBC News..

That compares with close to 1,000 baht per month that I had been paying for two service points of TrueVisions Knowledge Package, including their charges for a second cable box and second remote control for it, and VAT and such.

Continuing to watch NFL games via internet and NFL Game Rewind service.

Nice thing about Happy Home Cable... no cables boxes or remote controls to pay rental for each month... Their system, because it doesn't have any scrambled or premium channels, works just with your regular TV and TV remote control.

[wayned]

Asn's contract with true ended on 1 october. True and ASN failed to negiotiate a renewal of the contract and ASN entered a contract with 1-SKY to broadcast ASN beginning 8 October. I contacted 1-Sky and they offered me two packages, one if I had a 5ft Thaicom dish and one without. With a 5ft dish the cost is aboiut 1500 baht installation and without about 3500 baht installation with the first three months service free. I sent them many e-mails requesting further info but they do not answer. The info I requested was: 1. How much per month after the three month period? 2. If I use the 5ft dish do I have to give up Thaicom? 3. What other programming is offered on 1-SKY since there is no "TV Guide" avaiable on the internet. They never answered and I have since signed up with NFL.com for $75.00 to be able to see all of the regular season games.

[chmod777]

FYI, and for what it's worth, the website:

http://www.gmmsport.com/howto.php

seem to show 1 Sky Grammy's plans for sports channels. This site is all in Thai, but looks like they are planning to have:

ASN

Eurosport

GMM Sport 1

Foodball Plus (Football Plus I think they mean, but Food Ball sounds like more fun)

Sports Plus

No idea when the channels beyond ASN are supposed to start, or what any of this stuff is supposed to cost yet.

[bangkok101]

Never knew I could watch nfl on my mobile.

Typical bait and switch tactic by a don't not pass go, do not colllect 1,500 baht biz.

Probably freeing up space for a 24 hour woman's volleyball channel.

Well, the "all-nude" version of womens volleyball would be ok perhaps?

[brewsterbudgen]

I've downgraded to Gold but can't get rid of True completely as it would mean losing live EPL.

[mikebike]

In Phuket it seems that many NHL games (sourced from ASN) are being shown on Astro SuperSport II available on the cable channels supplied by most local cable companies!!!! :D

[clip]

Sorry for you chaps, but what about all of us poor Brits, Aussies, New Zealanders and others who pay these extortionate TrueMove charges yet have no opportunity to watch any cricket?

ha ha your joking right?

[Will27]

Sorry for you chaps, but what about all of us poor Brits, Aussies, New Zealanders and others who pay these extortionate TrueMove charges yet have no opportunity to watch any cricket?

ha ha your joking right?

Care to let us in on the joke?

[ChiangMaiThai]

Here's what I did.

1. Cancelled True - saved 2,200 Baht a month.

2. Signed up for a US DirectTV Slingbox service - spent 3,000 Baht a month

3. Connected my laptop to my TV with HDMI cable

Now I can watch whatever games I want.

My internet (800 Baht a month) is only good enough for SD. This looks like VHS on the computer screen and a bit pixelated on a big TV screen, but still very watchable. If you have real internet, you should be able to stream HD (an extra 600 Baht a month), which will look BETTER than the current True Visions offering.

It's not at all as convenient as lying on the sofa flipping through channels, but if there is one thing you want to watch, then it works great. You can also pause live TV and record all your favorite shows.

Crucially, to get decent speeds in Thailand, you will almost certainly need to use a proxy. The Slingbox service I am subscribing to provides this free of charge. it's 2 to 3 times faster with the proxy.

So as I said in a previous post - I have worked out a solution for myself where no money goes to ASN and no money goes to True. It's only a matter of time before the whole set up becomes as convenient as watching 'normal TV'. Faster Internet speeds and a remote built to mimic a standard TV remote will seriously eat into the profit margins of incompetent companies like True that don't care about their customers.

If you want the name of the Slingbix service, just PM me.

[animatic]

Media Research Asia shows Truevisions is hemorrhaging money.

True Looks to Resurrect in Q4

Integrated telecoms and media distributor True Corp. endured another painful quarter, reporting a net loss of B1.24 bil./US$39 mil. for Q2 2011 versus a loss of B448 mil./US$13.7 mil. in Q2 2010.

This is from August 21, 2011 http://www.mediarese...e=money&id=0692 pre-flood.

So you can imagine that True with it's poor phone service is panicing post-flood...

and cutting back where ever they can.

This also explains the full frontal attack a DTAC on the phone front.

Now to add insult to injury Grammy is stealing their channels.

ASN went to 1-Sky Grammy's newly launched satellite service.

Disney channel is gone from Truevisions ALL Disney. And Discovery is gone too.

I was just looking to find out if 1-Sky has grabbed it up. Grammy has deep pockets and solid management the opposite of True it seems.

I own a True satellite for 6 years,

but have been debating getting a 1-Sky in stead,

my daughter loves Disney content and I watched ASN.

Losing Disney and Discover are excellent things depending on age,

and some of the few that make it worth having a a TV.

Now Truevision's response is to try and coerce you into trading your OWNED BOX for their RENTAL BOX and charging you 156 baht MORE a month to get HD content, by removing content you want, like Discovery to force you to switch to their 'rental deal'.

AND attempting to make you believe it sounds like a 'service on box insurance upgrade plan'.

"if box not work we fix for you free, no rent box, we charge you 1,500 baht to fix, see better for you"

Are they that desperate or do they think we are that desperate?

Clearly part of the problem is they can't control 'the boxes they don't own' ie sold, and want to move to more digitally secure boxes they can check on to see if they are tampered with, to thwart piracy. But the upgrades on the arguably better set top boxes is RENT ONLY. True makes more money, even as the lose channels to distribute.

Are they going tits up... well who knows but the bleeding can not have stopped by now. Losing Disney and Discovery are going to hit hard, and 1Sky is going to cut subscribers for True ever channel the lose. And the way they are acting 'Subscriber LOYALTY' is non-existant.

Edited January 4, 2012 by animatic

[PattayaParent]

I saw ASN listed on Sophon Cable (Pattaya) so there might be other cable operators out there that have picked it up.

[PattayaParent]

Now to add insult to injury Grammy is stealing their channels.

ASN went to 1-Sky Grammy's newly launched satellite service.

Disney channel is gone from Truevisions ALL Disney.

And Discovery is gone too.

Since when?

[brewsterbudgen]

Now to add insult to injury Grammy is stealing their channels.

ASN went to 1-Sky Grammy's newly launched satellite service.

Disney channel is gone from Truevisions ALL Disney.

And Discovery is gone too.

Discovery Channel hasn't gone from my True. In fact there are now 4 new BBC channels to enjoy.

Since when?

[Old Man River]

Now to add insult to injury Grammy is stealing their channels.

ASN went to 1-Sky Grammy's newly launched satellite service.

Disney channel is gone from Truevisions ALL Disney.

And Discovery is gone too.

Discovery Channel hasn't gone from my True. In fact there are now 4 new BBC channels to enjoy.

Since when?

Bringing back BBC Entertainment shows that True listens to viewer response. When True didn't renew its contract with BBC Entertainment, the viewer response was loud. It has taken them about 2 years to bring it back, but they are bringing it back, although starting Feb. 1 those that want this channel (#149) will have to pay extra for it.

I would pay extra for ASN as I am sure would others, but with ASN it wasn't a matter of True simply not renewing their contract. With ASN, they actually had competition and with competition involved they lost their rights (to Grammy).

By the way, besides the Discovery channels, I also still have the two Disney channels.

[ubonrthai]

I still have disney.

[ALFREDO]

I changed to TRUE MOVE PLATIN only for ASN and the UFC Fighting Championship fights.

Cancelled last year as True Move stopped ASN.

If there had been some Fans same me, I delighted that FOX Movies channel at TRUE MOVE shows now UFC LIVE as just now UFC 144.

Thanks TRUE MOVE and FOX.