CTH foresees much-enlarged customer base

[Lite Beer]

CTH foresees much-enlarged customer base
Watchiranont Thongtep
The Nation 

 

BANGKOK: -- New English Premier League kicks off soon, pay-TV operator CTH, which holds the broadcasting rights to these soccer matches, has high hopes of building up its customer base through business partnerships by more than 3.8 million from just 340,000 currently before the end of the year.

Apart from its own distribution network, its business partners are PSI Holdings, some satellite-TV operators that cannot be named, My World Internet-protocol television, mobile operators, information-technology retailers, Sanook.com, and its subsidiary GMM Z Pay TV.

Chirdsak Kukiattinun, chairman of the CTH executive committee, said yesterday that by partnering with these distributors, the company would be able to reach a wider audience in different segments while there was only two years left for the company to monetise the US$380-million rights to telecast 380 live EPL matches per year.

"We need a quick return on our huge investment, approximately Bt12.2 billion, from this premium sport content," Chirdsak stressed.

Besides getting the right business partners, the company is turning its focus to affordable and user-friendly products and services to lure new customers. A newly re-launched ready-to-use satellite TV set-top box bundled with CTH's exclusive content is an example in this regard. This kind of box can also work with any kind of satellite dish.

In addition, the price of this box includes the annual membership fee to access exclusive TV programmes, including live telecasts of the new EPL season.

Early this week, the company announced a partnership with PSI Holding to launch a conditional-access satellite adapter, called a "PSI Plug-in". PSI customers who purchase this adapter and insert it into a slot in their old-version set-top boxes for satellite TV signal encryption can enjoy watching 380 live EPL matches in the coming season.

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

Previously CTH implemented a single billing system for its monthly members via its local cable-TV partners, but it did not work well because of some difficulties.

With its estimated 3.8 million new customers, the company believes its revenue will hit Bt7 billion this year.

CTH sales targets

By the end on this year, CTH expects to have lured more than 3.8 million new customers through its own distribution channels and its business partners in various sectors ranging from cable, satellite TV, iPTV and mobile to Web-based portals.

Distribution channel current base (million) target (million) total (million)

CTH 0.3 0.4-0.5 0.7-0.8

PSI Holdings (n/a) 0.8-1.2 0.8-1.2

GMM Z Pay TV 0.04 0.5-0.6 0.54-0.64

Unnamed set-top boxes (n/a) 0.3 0.3

My World (iPTV) (n/a) 0.1 0.1

AIS, DTAC (mobile operators) (n/a) 1 1

SIS, TWZ (IT retailers) (n/a) 0.2 0.2

Sanook.com (Web-based portal) (n/a) 0.5 0.5

Grand total 0.34 3.8-4.4 4.14-4.74

Source: CTH

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/CTH-foresees-much-enlarged-customer-base-30240041.html

 

[thenation]2014-08-02[/thenation]

[iancnx]

Hmmmmm would not let me pay for another year. Still waiting for the monthly invoice so I can pay it. I have a sat dish with them. All I want is my footy live.

[dereklev]

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

[alant]

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

Agree, on screen programming is a joke, shockingly bad and even worse than TRUE, web page is not that user friendly as well. I also think the signal strength is lacking and programme interruptions too frequent due to low signal.

Edited August 2, 2014 by alant

[dereklev]

 

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

Agree, on screen programming is a joke, shockingly bad and even worse than TRUE, web page is not that user friendly as well. I also think the signal strength is lacking and programme interruptions too frequent due to low signal.

 

 

When I asked why the signal was poor and kept failing I was told it was due to heavy rain in Vietnam

[ezzra]

And I foresee my self buying out Bill gate and mark Zukerman, and than I wok up....

 

Good like to them, there is no laws against wild wishes....

[ratcatcher]

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

You should be commended for actually managing to get through to a human being on the 1619 #. The only reason we have CTH is probably the same as the majority of subscribers, the Premiership football and the Star Sports / Fox  Formula 1 races..

Their channels are all over the place and have moved around several times. As others have said, their program guide is crap and all you see is "no information'. They have no 02 number in Bangkok and their English, I presume, is minimal.  They must have thousands of farang subscribers because f the football broadcasts. They are using Vietnam satellite.

I am a month behind with my subscription and they don't seem to care.

Only 2 weeks to game 1. Man U. vs Swansea., 

[khwaibah]

Stuff Satellite TV. IPTV is the only way to go..

[ford8]

There's a coinciidence!

 

Only yesterday I cancelled mine. Well I tried, but  they don't acknowledge or respond to emails, in English and Thai, and when I did once get thro' on the phone, they said my a/c number and phone number did not exist. That "fact" does not prevent them billing me of course, I  have not paid for some time. There is no updated status of amount owing, just a single amount monthly.

 

Like many I got it for EPL, with no simple way to find out their schedule and particularly replays I found the whole "system" too frustrating.

 

I have no interest in any of their other channels, and for those who do again no information on any schedule.

 

Not wishing to advertise, I find that the "every day of the year" system is perfect.  Served me well over the WC.

 

I record everything and watch via USB on my big TV.

 

If I was smart maybe I could connect PC to TV.

 

 

[Pi Sek]

One of my tenants got cut off by CTH because he hadn't paid... because of no bill. Despite having tried to get one on several occasions through several channels.

 

The local cable company (operating the CTH office) could not offer any help - they said it was CTH's problem and their billing process was causing lots of problems, and I believe him. The call centre had great English and were very polite... but couldn't do anything. Their customer service email bounced. All in all, a terrible issue with sending bills. (Besides which, they conveniently "forgot" that I had signed up for 12 months @ 749 Baht, not month-by-month at 899 Baht.)

 

I always thought the program guide would get better within a few months. Wishful thinking I suppose.

 

I think they have a fair product for a fair price but they run it pathetically poorly.

[FangFerang]

See what happens when a yellow company tries to embrace technology?  They choke.  Thaksin made all his money in telecommunications -- the elite knew nothing about it and scoffed at him.  Suddenly a billionaire, they hated him...not for any particular reason, of course....

 

[robblok]

See what happens when a yellow company tries to embrace technology?  They choke.  Thaksin made all his money in telecommunications -- the elite knew nothing about it and scoffed at him.  Suddenly a billionaire, they hated him...not for any particular reason, of course....

 

 Give me a monopoly and ill show you how i can make money too.

[Sparkles]

CTH don't deserve to survive.From the day they were sending installers out in taxis with a dish hanging out of the boot and not even a ladder to their absolutely hopeless invoicing system and woeful programming information they still can't get it right. We lose signal all the time with no rain within kms.If it wasn't for the EPL they would not have single customer.

 

Ring them, no reply , email them, no reply,not even a sales office in major cities like Chiang Mai and they want to increase their customer base !

 

IPM with one off payment for box and dish, 3000, b, with no monthly repayments, has at least a good a news service with Al Jazeera ,Asia News but sadly no EPL which I would gladly pay for.

 

 

[crazykopite]

I have CTH and to be honest I have never had a problem with them however I recently got IPTV and have to say I am very impressed with it fortunately I have CAT fibre optic to my property which is super fast have been watching all the pre-season friendlies with no problems IPTV is the way to go if you have the internet speed My CTH contract is 12 months on Monday I will keep it another month just to make sure my IPTV is causing no problems and then request that they collect the equipment and return my 1,800 baht deposit

[Khun David]

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.
 
"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.
 
The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.
 
I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.
 
Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.
 
Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.
 
I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.
 
Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

I thought it was just myself and a few mates who had problems receiving bills, I think Thai visa should pass this thread on to the owner and ask for his comments.
Surely he has no idea this is going on

[Khun David]

dereklev, on 02 Aug 2014 - 07:58, said:
CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.
I thought it was just myself and a few mates who had problems receiving bills, I think Thai visa should pass this thread on to the owner and ask for his comments.
Surely he has no idea this is going on

[personchester]

 

 

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

Agree, on screen programming is a joke, shockingly bad and even worse than TRUE, web page is not that user friendly as well. I also think the signal strength is lacking and programme interruptions too frequent due to low signal.

 

 

When I asked why the signal was poor and kept failing I was told it was due to heavy rain in Vietnam

 

 

CTH appears not to be able to effectively install their program procedure, those that have received the installation are unhappy with their outlined professional activities. 

[CTO]

 

 

CTH couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery. They can't even get their on screen program guide working.

 

"I would like to say that offering prepaid service is our key strategy, not post-paid or payments on a monthly basis," Chirdsak said.

He said he believed that customer behaviour in the pay-TV business was similar to that in the telecom business, where people prefer prepaid service to post-paid. So the company expects only 20-30 per cent of its new customers to choose the post-paid option.

 

The only reason they want pre-pay customers is because of the total failure of their Accounts Department.

 

I signed up with them last August and despite several phone calls asking where the bill was by November I had still not received one.

 

Mid November they had a scolling message continuosly running at the bottom of the screen on some channels which my wife said was about billing and that if I did not contact them by the end of the month the service would be suspended. I phoned they took my details and said a bill would be sent within 15 days.

 

Needless to say no bill arrived so I phoned again and they said wait your bill is coming. Finally on the 20th February my bill arrived but for January and February only.

 

I have not received a bill since but pay the monthly subscrption the 20th of the month.

 

Mr Chirdsak is talking out of his backside, the reason CTH want pre-pay customers is their woeful inadequecy in getting bills to their post-pay ones.

Agree, on screen programming is a joke, shockingly bad and even worse than TRUE, web page is not that user friendly as well. I also think the signal strength is lacking and programme interruptions too frequent due to low signal.

 

 

When I asked why the signal was poor and kept failing I was told it was due to heavy rain in Vietnam

 

It is uplinked out of Vietnam, so it's sadly the truth.

 

They totally screwed up their billing systems, 

[CTO]

 

See what happens when a yellow company tries to embrace technology?  They choke.  Thaksin made all his money in telecommunications -- the elite knew nothing about it and scoffed at him.  Suddenly a billionaire, they hated him...not for any particular reason, of course....

 

 Give me a monopoly and ill show you how i can make money too.

 

 

What monopoly? AIS has competition, 

CTH is far from a Yellow company, 

[mikebell]

My beef with CTH started a week ago. FIL did something to the box & we lost all channels.  My wife phoned up & they talked her through getting everything back to normal.  Almost as an afterthought the phone-helper pointed out that my 1st year's subscription expired THE NEXT DAY!

She gave us CTH bank account number + email.  I went down to ATM immediately; transferred new annual fee; scanned the transaction slip; emailed it to CTH; job done.  I did ask in my email for more notice next year!

[ford8]

What email did they give you please.?

 

I have been using [email protected]  to no avail.

 

Thank You