True Epl Coverage

[jellydog]

I'm looking for some advise being a BKK rube. I just moved into a condo off Sukhumvit. There is a free cable tv service included, but it is woeful, with only 33 channels (one of which is True1-but with Thai commentary). The question-how to play the CTH future ? My initial gambit is to tough it out for awhile, not take on additional service, and see what happens with CTH. Any other ways to play this ? Can I sign up with True for a limited time and then dump them ?

Thanks for any ideas.

Do you have a spare room?

LOL. As a matter of fact yes, but you and I would be at each other's throats with broken bottles !! And yes, Jack Daniels bottles !

[mrbojangles]

I'm looking for some advise being a BKK rube. I just moved into a condo off Sukhumvit. There is a free cable tv service included, but it is woeful, with only 33 channels (one of which is True1-but with Thai commentary). The question-how to play the CTH future ? My initial gambit is to tough it out for awhile, not take on additional service, and see what happens with CTH. Any other ways to play this ? Can I sign up with True for a limited time and then dump them ?

Thanks for any ideas.

Do you have a spare room?

LOL. As a matter of fact yes, but you and I would be at each other's throats with broken bottles !! And yes, Jack Daniels bottles !

MrRed is a pussy cat jelly. Even when I watched us beat United with him, he was still nice about it (gobby but nice ). I think he was in denial and thought the game would carry on until United equalised

[MrRed]

Jack

I would wait it out with true especially as the football season is nearly over,i should imagine ? you will be able to buy a box from CTH soon enough and just install it to get the premier league next season at an additional cost of course.

Very strange that CTH have not let there marketing team loose yet......so one can only assume it will be a co/joint operation with other providers....so i still would not rule out True getting games just yet!

Wait and see i think is the best advice.

[MrRed]

I'm looking for some advise being a BKK rube. I just moved into a condo off Sukhumvit. There is a free cable tv service included, but it is woeful, with only 33 channels (one of which is True1-but with Thai commentary). The question-how to play the CTH future ? My initial gambit is to tough it out for awhile, not take on additional service, and see what happens with CTH. Any other ways to play this ? Can I sign up with True for a limited time and then dump them ?

Thanks for any ideas.

Do you have a spare room?

LOL. As a matter of fact yes, but you and I would be at each other's throats with broken bottles !! And yes, Jack Daniels bottles !

MrRed is a pussy cat jelly. Even when I watched us beat United with him, he was still nice about it (gobby but nice ). I think he was in denial and thought the game would carry on until United equalised

It normally does.....i am a pussy cat indeed

[jellydog]

Jack

I would wait it out with true especially as the football season is nearly over,i should imagine ? you will be able to buy a box from CTH soon enough and just install it to get the premier league next season at an additional cost of course.

Very strange that CTH have not let there marketing team loose yet......so one can only assume it will be a co/joint operation with other providers....so i still would not rule out True getting games just yet!

Wait and see i think is the best advice.

Thanks Red. That was my initial reaction. There was an article in the BKK Post recently about CTH's plans. I didn't keep it, thinking that someone here would comment on it. But, it didn't happen. As best as I can recall, CTH is planning on coming out with all the info in mid to late June.

[MrRed]

The poster "bangkok blue" seems to be up to speed about what is going on and will post when he hears something new happening on the grapevine i would imagine.

[alfieconn]

This is probaly old news but might be of interest to a few :

Wichai Thongtang, a major shareholder of CTH, did not disclose the bidding price, saying only that the company is set to allocate at least 20 billion baht to prepare equipment, lay down a nationwide fibre-optic network for cable TV, broadband internet and other services, and pay licence fees.

The fibre-optic network will be completed next February.

"We'll have live broadcasts on the digital and interactive platform that nobody has had before," said Mr Wichai.

The source of funds will come from bank loans and the company's own cash flow.

CTH will open eight cable TV channels to broadcast all 380 EPL football matches.

The company will sell set-top boxes to subscribers but did not disclose its marketing plans.

For the subscription fee, CTH will try to maintain a price of 300-360 baht a month for as long as possible.

"We did not expect to win this bid," said Mr Wichai.

"We joined the bidding because we wanted to build our CTH name in the international level. I have no experience in sports business, but I'm confident we can run it very well, as we have many partners such as Thai Rath newspaper and the Siam Sport Syndicate."

CTH competed against TrueVisions, GMM Grammy, RS and Channel 7, which joined with Malaysian iTTV operator Cubic Associates Group on its bid.

With the EPL broadcast rights in hand, CTH expects cable TV subscriptions to reach 7 million households nationwide over the next three years, double the current 3.5 million.

Mr Wichai said the business of CTH will likely stay in the red by more than 100 million baht for another year.

"However, we expect to break even from the EPL investment over the next three years," he said.

At least three companies have already contacted CTH about becoming a broadcast partner.

"CTH will find partners in many platforms. At the moment, we still have a good relation with TrueVisions," said Mr Wichai.

Suphachai Chearavanont, the chief executive of TrueVisions' parent True Corporation, said the company had tried its best to retain the EPL rights by what it thought was the "highest bid price offered".

"The winning bid price was beyond our business capability," he said, adding that TrueVisions must now adjust its strategy to cope with the loss of EPL.

An industry analyst said the incredibly savvy bid by CTH was a symptom of the increasing arms race in foreign broadcasting rights for EPL.

The result could lead to a shake-up at the TrueVisions sporting channel, said the analyst, who asked not to be named.

"What is shocking is the sheer amount of money the bid jumped to _ a more than five-fold increase in the value of the EPL contract in the previous three-season cycle," said the analyst.

The loss of its long-standing bid for EPL could affect TrueVisions' revenue-generating premium subscriber base.

TrueVisions won the EPL broadcast rights in a direct bid for the first time in 2007 after receiving a sublicence for its pay-TV system from ESPN Star Sports.

An industry veteran highlighted several implications of the CTH move.

First is the cable TV operator may try to create a direct competitor to the country's largest pay-TV operator, building on the sudden increase in subscriber base and brand recognition.

Another certainty is that bidders see EPL as a big bag of money.

"TrueVisions' loss could lead to a plunge in ratings and a surge in subscriber churn rate," said the source.

[mrbojangles]

This is probaly old news but might be of interest to a few :

It was to me alfie. Cheers.

Particularly this bit:-

"We did not expect to win this bid," said Mr Wichai."We joined the bidding because we wanted to build our CTH name in the international level. I have no experience in sports business, but I'm confident we can run it very well, as we have many partners such as Thai Rath newspaper and the Siam Sport Syndicate."

And at least True were honest when they said:- Suphachai Chearavanont, the chief executive of TrueVisions' parent True Corporation, said the company had tried its best to retain the EPL rights by what it thought was the "highest bid price offered". "The winning bid price was beyond our business capability," he said, adding that TrueVisions must now adjust its strategy to cope with the loss of EPL.

It looks like True have realised that they will lose a lot of business but if they felt that the price was too much to pay, or they had put in a winning bid, it's fair enough I suppose.

[Chicog]

From the Nation, April 17th:

Consortium plans new TV package with 120 channels

Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation April 17, 2013 1:00 am

TOT approached for fibre-optic connection

Cable Thai Holdings, a consortium of about 300 operators, is ready to launch a vastly expanded cable-TV package to boost its subscribers to 4 million this year.

CTH's members currently have 2.2 million subscribers, of whom half are in Bangkok and half upcountry.

The new package will offer 120 channels, including 30 in high definition (HD), versus 16 analog channels in the present package. The package will grow to 150 channels next year and eventually 500.

CTH has already secured some 70 foreign programmes and is in talks with local content providers for similar deals.

CTH acts as a hub feeding content to its members, which repackage these programmes and sell them to their subscribers.

However, it remains to be seen whether all households will be able to access all 120 channels, since CTH might not be able to connect their homes completely this year with a high-tech network to replace the existing cable network, to bring them full HD and high-quality channels.

"This is the problem we've experienced, but we're confident that we can manage it," said chief executive officer Kittsanan Ngamphatipong.

A source at TOT said CTH was in talks for the telecom agency to connect the homes of subscribers with its fibre-optic network on a revenue-sharing basis, starting with 300,000 homes this year.

Kittsanan claimed that CTH, which last year won the rights to broadcast English Premier League soccer matches during the next three seasons in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, has already clinched many sponsorship deals for the EPL programmes and related activities. However, he declined to identify them.

An industry source said CTH had also approached Advanced Info Service, one giant Japanese carmaker and one beverage company for sponsorships related to the EPL matches.

CTH's members charge subscribers Bt300 a month on average for a basic package. To view the EPL matches, they will have to buy the EPL package on the top of basic package for Bt100-Bt400 a month, depending on the number of matches. The EPL packages are expected to be available in June.

CTH is reportedly in talks with free-TV operators to broadcast 17 selected matches out of the total of 380 per year, in line with CTH's contract with the EPL. The negotiations are expected to be finalised this month.

CTH has already distributed 300,000 set-top boxes to subscribers to receive these 120 channels. It is expected to finish distributing the units to all existing subscribers and an estimated 2 million new subscribers this year. The subscribers will be required to sign up for a one-year contract.

This year the company plans to spend about Bt1 billion on acquiring content and Bt7 billion on expanding the network and procuring set-top boxes.

[SantiSuk]

Cable is such an undemocratic medium compared with satellite! Favours townies. I wonder if the agrarian base of the Peu Thai party will be complaining to Thaksin

[nev]

Cable is such an undemocratic medium compared with satellite! Favours townies. I wonder if the agrarian base of the Peu Thai party will be complaining to Thaksin

Us Ban nork folk will be up in arms if we are denied our premier league we will amass a army and march to bkk to confront the owners of CTH.

[smokie36]

Well....CTH will be losers too.

If a deal isn't done with True they are idiots.

[jellydog]

Well....CTH will be losers too.

If a deal isn't done with True they are idiots.

Righto. Seems the practical thing to do for so many reasons. Why reinvent the wheel when you can get the old one moving by throwing some crumbs True's way ?

[SantiSuk]

Cable is such an undemocratic medium compared with satellite! Favours townies. I wonder if the agrarian base of the Peu Thai party will be complaining to Thaksin

Us Ban nork folk will be up in arms if we are denied our premier league we will amass a army and march to bkk to confront the owners of CTH.

Im with yoiu Nev. Come the revolution CTH bosses will be the first to go up against the wall!

[MrRed]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

[smokie36]

I think most telling is they didn't expect to win.

True right royally far*ed it up.

[SantiSuk]

Somethings dont stack up:

CTH says it can use its EPL (sorry, but I will continue to call it that Hotandhumid so long as I know it winds you Welshmen up ) rights as a launchpad to garner a 7.5 million subscriber base within 3 years, yet True could only muster 2.5 million after 6 years. True charged 1,600 baht a month for its Gold package and still regard the new contract price sought by the EPL as unaffordable. CTH reckon they will do it for a maximum of 700 baht a month.

Either:

True is desperately mismanaged and pays hopelessly high amounts for its other international and Thai channel content; or

CTHs package will give you EPL plus 120 channels of cheap Thai bubblegum programming; or

CTH are inexperienced and havent got a clue how to budget, have been hopelessly optimistic about take up and will go bust within 2 years; or

There are a couple of million relatively affluent Laotions and Cambodians who have been hiding in the jungle since the Vietnam war

A bit of all of the first three I suspect.

While on the subject of inconsistencies, is it not amazing that Scudamore could announce "CTH has an excellent reputation as a high quality broadcaster", whereas CTH's major shareholder says "We did not expect to win this bid ... We joined the bidding because we wanted to build our CTH name in the international level. I have no experience in sports business, but I'm confident we can run it very well". You would have thought that the two organisations could at least have co-ordinated their marketing messages (or bull$hit, as is increasingly clearly the case in respect of Scumamore) better.

[bangkok blue]

As has been reported in the press CTH signed the contract with The EPL last week. They will relaunch their brand and start selling EPL packages in June once True's deal expires.

I think the risk of blank screens has diminished somewhat, as they have now got the majority of independent cable operators on board now.

Only possible fly in the ointment is that the amount of HD channels could be limited initially, as they haven't completed a deal with TOT to use their fibre optic network. Out in the sticks you may have to wait for HD but in major cities I think this won't be a problem. They have rights to all 380 matches. If you want the lot this will be around 800bht max inc entertainment package. It's cheaper if you want less matches.

Murdoch is keen to invest in CTH and was present when they signed the deal with The EPL.

[alfieconn]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

[nev]

Soon we will need to have maybe 4 different company's if you want to watch premier league champions league fa cup europa league, world cup? its getting ridiculous i might be tempted to put i j sat think around 18,000 baht for the movable dish and see what i can pick up, anyone got j sat?

[smokie36]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

Only until Xmas to be fair to him.

[nev]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

Only until Xmas to be fair to him.

And you lot might not have to worry if we don't win on sunday for you.

[smokie36]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

Only until Xmas to be fair to him.

And you lot might not have to worry if we don't win on sunday for you.

Now now nev....don't be like that!

[uptheos]

I can see it now, a limited EPL package bought by True, available only to existing Gold/Plat HD members for an extra 1,000 Baht.......bar stewards!

[smokie36]

It really is difficult to understand how CTH can offer such a cheap package from next season when their bid is so much more than True were paying for the rights.

I mean....just how much profit have True made?

If the new lot can at least break even at that low price....True must be laughing their heads off the last few years!

[MrRed]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

Only until Xmas to be fair to him.

Just like this year in the Premier League then

[hotandhumid]

As has been reported in the press CTH signed the contract with The EPL last week. They will relaunch their brand and start selling EPL packages in June once True's deal expires. I think the risk of blank screens has diminished somewhat, as they have now got the majority of independent cable operators on board now. Only possible fly in the ointment is that the amount of HD channels could be limited initially, as they haven't completed a deal with TOT to use their fibre optic network. Out in the sticks you may have to wait for HD but in major cities I think this won't be a problem. They have rights to all 380 matches. If you want the lot this will be around 800bht max inc entertainment package. It's cheaper if you want less matches. Murdoch is keen to invest in CTH and was present when they signed the deal with The EPL.

Cheers for the info, blue.

One thing, do you know if we will get the English presenters ie John Dykes from the UK as we get on the TSHD2 channel now, or will it be Thai like on the non HD channels at present?

[hotandhumid]

Somethings dont stack up:

CTH says it can use its EPL (sorry, but I will continue to call it that Hotandhumid so long as I know it winds you Welshmen up ) rights as a launchpad to garner a 7.5 million subscriber base within 3 years, yet True could only muster 2.5 million after 6 years. True charged 1,600 baht a month for its Gold package and still regard the new contract price sought by the EPL as unaffordable. CTH reckon they will do it for a maximum of 700 baht a month.

Either:

True is desperately mismanaged and pays hopelessly high amounts for its other international and Thai channel content; or

CTHs package will give you EPL plus 120 channels of cheap Thai bubblegum programming; or

CTH are inexperienced and havent got a clue how to budget, have been hopelessly optimistic about take up and will go bust within 2 years; or

There are a couple of million relatively affluent Laotions and Cambodians who have been hiding in the jungle since the Vietnam war

A bit of all of the first three I suspect.

While on the subject of inconsistencies, is it not amazing that Scudamore could announce "CTH has an excellent reputation as a high quality broadcaster", whereas CTH's major shareholder says "We did not expect to win this bid ... We joined the bidding because we wanted to build our CTH name in the international level. I have no experience in sports business, but I'm confident we can run it very well". You would have thought that the two organisations could at least have co-ordinated their marketing messages (or bull$hit, as is increasingly clearly the case in respect of Scumamore) better.

I am most definitely NOT Welsh

And yes 'EPL' is very cringey....unless you're American of course.

[SantiSuk]

Sorry bach.

[alfieconn]

CTH bosses are laughing,when you acquire the rights to the most watched football league in the world and can resell the rights and advertising to whoever offers the most money i think they are very clever in biding there time.

Remember is is also Laos and Cambodia they are distributing to also...massive money involved.

They will have something in the pipeline with local operators i should imagine and the good news is the much talked about price which will be lower than buying a package from True that you don't really need.

300-500 baht a month??

But red, you will still need true for the Champions league, obviously we won't !

Only until Xmas to be fair to him.

And you lot might not have to worry if we don't win on sunday for you.

Put ya specs on Nev