Grammy Seeks Renegotiation With Uefa

[Pseudolus]

The pompous arrogance of them all. As if Uefa would waste another moment of their time listening to the bleating of a backward 3rd world country where the sponsorship and merchandising is not only worthless, but actually as negative where all merchandise is fake. I just assume they will get a standard email reply "Dear whoever. We are looking into this and thanks for bringing it to our attention. If you do not hear back from us personally within 24 months, then please call our hotline on 01900 GET STUFFED (calls cost 50 Euro per minutes)."

[edwardandtubs]

There were no EPL matches at all on Thai terrestrial channels last season. All of them on True Sports.

Edited June 18, 2012 by edwardandtubs

[smedly]

Yes there were

anyway it is obvious that some people here don't get what is going on here

Thailand operates a free terestrial TV service for it's citizens as do most countries around the world (TV licence may pay for some of it) years ago this was primarily transmitted around the country using a transmitter network and recieved by using an ariel and TV tuner - this still exists today in Thailand and is everybodies right to have free access to it

Then along came the invention of pay TV through the positioning of satelites around the globe, operators rent out transponders on these sats and provide Dedicated sat recievers with encription to view their encypted channels like sky TV in the UK and UBC/True in Thailand

so far so good

The government also decided in these countries to aquire some tarnspoders to show FTA terrestrial channels from these satelites that can be recieved with a basic sat tuner and dish

so far so good

True and SkyTV in the UK out of the goodness of their hear and for convenience decided to include these free to air channels through their own sat boxes making it easier for customers to view all the channels without an ariel or an extra sat box and dish - very nice of them to do so

Then along came this debacle - were grammy negociated with uefa to screen the 2012 football but alas did not have the distribution network to actually distribute the content so they sold the rights to the free national TV channels and in doing so tried to block true from showing the national free channels while the matches were being aired because they wanted people to buy their hardware

True is not to blame here, they have and are doing nothing wrong - Grammy with backhanders and god knows whatever else tried to make people pay for a national free service which in my opinion was out of order - as I have already said previously - if grammy had had the resource to provide this content using their own network we wouldn't be in this mess but they didn't and therein is the fundamental problem is all of this - grammy tried to hijak free to air national television for their own plans and it has backfired - and so it should have

Edited June 18, 2012 by smedly

[animatic]

In other words my point is being made.

True showed SELECTED Premiership matches and not all.

So why must Grammy show all for free? True didn't.

If True can pick and choose why not Grammy?

Grammy has 1 million set top boxes.

That is enough of a resource for UEFA to give them the contract.

True balked at the fee demanded to get a competitors service

that would have been putting redundant signal in several markets.

Edited June 18, 2012 by animatic

[volk666]

Thai terrestrial TV does not cover the whole country on its own, they use satellites to beam signal to terrestrial relay stations in some remote areas.

Apparently the issue of using satellite dishes to receive football broadcast by free TV came up during last world cup, the signal is now encrypted and only boxes sold in Thailand can view Thai free TV from satellites.

Grammy might have used a loophole but what they got in return is a ban on importing any more of their boxes until they get NBTC license and NBTC made it clear they are not going to give one to Grammy unless the current problem is sorted to everyone's satisfaction.

Grammy exec said they sold some 900,000 boxes and are waiting to import another 500,000 but now, without NBTC license, it's a no go. Other satellite TV operators got caught in the same situation, some say they still have enough boxes in stock to last a couple of months while NBTC prepares the license regulations, should be out in August.

If NBTC can't get them on time it would be an unfortunate incident but perfectly legal, just like that loophole Grammy is using now.

Whoever thought of playing "catch me if you can" game with a regulator need to lose his common sense license right away.

[volk666]

True showed SELECTED Premiership matches and not all.

So why must Grammy show all for free? True didn't.

Grammy isn't showing it for free, Ch 3,5 and 9 pay them share of advertising revenue. I bet this is the only way Grammy can actually recoup its investment and make some profit, I don't think it makes enough from those boxes they neither make nor sell themselves.

News coverage on this issue has firmly shifted from blaming True a week ago to discussing Grammy, rights and loopholes now.

[smedly]

Apparently the issue of using satellite dishes to receive football broadcast by free TV came up during last world cup, the signal is now encrypted and only boxes sold in Thailand can view Thai free TV from satellites.

well that is incorrect and if you read anything here already and understood it you would not have posted what you did - Free to Air is what it is and requires no special equipment to view - 2x choices - an ariel or a freeview sat box and dish - THERE IS NO ENCRYPTION INVOLVED IN FREE TO AIR CHANNELS, just take that as fact, it's like scanning for radio on your phone

[volk666]

The link to True's satellite channels has been posted here several times, it shows that FTA channels there are encrypted.

According to this article during World Cup two years ago signal was encrypted on C-band, too.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Learning-the-lessons-of-Euro-2012-debacle-30184341.html

Maybe it wasn't clear to you that I was talking about "football broadcast by free TV", it's right there in the sentence you quoted.

[smedly]

<deleted> I give up - FTa is what it is FTA, look if you have a true box right now - pull out the card and you will still see Thai channel 3-5-9 and a load of others

[Ferangled]

In other words my point is being made.

True showed SELECTED Premiership matches and not all.

So why must Grammy show all for free? True didn't.

If True can pick and choose why not Grammy?

Grammy has 1 million set top boxes.

That is enough of a resource for UEFA to give them the contract.

True balked at the fee demanded to get a competitors service

that would have been putting redundant signal in several markets.

?! Yes clearly!?

Grammy commandeering FTA channels to show Euro 2012 due to not having any channels of their own to air matches, and then blocking the signal for other satellite services is clearly exactly the same as True airing paid for content on FTA channels and allowing all to access it regardless...?

True couldn't possibly show all Premiership matches on FTA channels because there simply aren't enough channels for the amount of games!

Great point, well made there! In the face of informed explanations simply bury your head in the sand and proclaim that you are correct regardless, while completely failing to grasp the situation!

[SuneeTH]

I suppose this is what happen:

Grammy: Do you want to buy Euro2012 rights?

Ch 3,5, 7 and 9, NBT, TPBS: Yes, how much?

Grammy: 10 millions each channel if you only broadcast via the air, plus 1 more million if you want to give if for free to your other partners.

Ch 7, NBT, TPBS: Sorry, no more budget this year.

Ch 3,5, and 9: Wow, great deal, mummmm, 10 million is less than 11. We'll take the 10 million option.

DEAL DONE.

[Kilgore Trout]

i do not BELIEVE WHY NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THE REAL COMMERCIAL FACTS in this case! when uefa/grammy offers the broadcast contract it is important for the one who signs the contract and pays for it that they can offer their advertising customers during the matches this exclusivity. when a satellite company like true is going to broadcast the same matches, they can modify the life broadcast and send their own advertisements and make extra money. as well the free to air channels can not offer their advertisers this exclusivity and the bulk of customers watching their channels and advertisements. that is how this is organized in every country. the satellite and cable services ask heaps of money to their subscribers and have a budget to to pay for the broadcast. if they not pay for the broadcast that the free to air channels have this exclusivity but have to pay more because the satellites and cables do not pay! Like in other countries they offer first to the satellite companies and when they prepared to pay the contract offer UEFA do not offer to others anymore and so the satellite company has a huge chance to get many new customers for their services. However True is too greedy do not want to pay and get it for free and still charge a lot to their customers. Even the question for the free to air customers need to be if the satellite companies pay enough to the free to air companies to be allowed to broadcast the free to air at all!!!!!! Most likely they pay nothing because the Thai companies are not enough professional. Also when true sends for free grammy cannot sell their settop boxes enough to make enough money themselves to pay to uefa for the Thai rights of broadcasting. The Thai government should stay out of this otherwise worldwide Thailand gets a funny commercial bad name to deal with unprofessional marketing knowledge. To conclude:

1. GRammy buy the rights

2. grammy do research and marketing who wants to buy and pay for it

3. customer gets contract for broadcasting and exclusivity

4. grammy forecast how many set-top boxes it can sell which sets the price for the contract

grammy cannot sell one box if all thai TV service can broadcast the matches!!!!!!! So if free to air and all cable and satellite broadcasts the matches, grammy have to make a higher contract price because they miss the sales and profit of the set-top boxes!

all clear now for everybody including true and government?

Some of what you say is great but how about this for a business strategy:

1. GMM do the research and find out who are the best partners and at what price they would come in.

2. GMM estimate how many boxes they might sell based on the fact that this is a 3 week tournament and they don't have the content to sustain customers after the football finishes

3. GMM check the NBTC rules on "must carry" and "pass through" transmissions.

4. GMM make a bid to UEFA based on their research and income projections that makes financial sense.

If they had done this they would not paid anywhere near 400 million.

BY the way, True are not allowed to modify the broadcasts and get their own advertisers. They are a subscription based service and in Thailand that means no in-programme advertisements.

When True purchase either rights or channels their decision making process will be something like:

1. We have a million subscribers will this purchase generate more subscribers

2. If we don't have these rights/channel will we lose subscribers.

Errr, that would involve forethought, something that Thais seem completely incapable of at every level of society. With all the talk about loss of face, I just can't believe this kind of thing is allowed to happen.

But here, I guess lost face is only when someone points out your mistake, not the fact that you actually made the mistake

[volk666]

<deleted> I give up - FTa is what it is FTA, look if you have a true box right now - pull out the card and you will still see Thai channel 3-5-9 and a load of others

I get a blank screen with "Please insert your card" message.

Perhaps you don't know this subject as well as you claim.