CTH has gone bust - end of the road for cable operator that showed EPL for three years

[webfact]

CTH has gone bust - end of the road for cable operator that showed EPL for three years

BANGKOK: -- Cable TV company has finally admitted that they have gone bust and will cease operations.

An announcement on their website said that the company will cease all operations from midnight on September 1st 2016.

The news will come as little surprise to thousands of customers of the company that was launch in 2010 and which acquired the rights to screen the English Premier League from under the nose of True Visions in 2013.

True announced last week that they have regained the rights to the EPL for the next three seasons until 2019 leaving CTH in the cable wilderness.

The EPL was the "jewel in the crown" for CTH but it cost them 9 billion baht and a total of 20 billion baht was invested in the
company across all channels. But they were beset with problems and were unable to attract a sufficient customer base. They were
criticized for poor service and customer relations.

Many subscribers did not pay bills. As the company failed to answer telephone calls and emails many bills built up to large amounts and were never recovered by the company.

But their website still seemed to indicate that CTH were in denial about the service they provided as they blamed the state of the economy for bringing an end to their operation.

True had shown the premier league for many years before the CTH deal and though they lost several thousand customers to CTH it is True that has won out in the end. All EPL matches will be shown on True across about seven dedicated channels on mobile and television with customers able to see many other sports as part of packages costing up to around 400 baht per month.

Source: Sanook

-- Thaivisa 2016-08-01

[tx22cb]

Good riddance, they were a bunch of cowboys.

Commiserations to customers who lost their deposits.

And will the Consumer Protection Agency come out to protect consumers? Fat chance.

[alant]

The consumer protection agency??????????

[Wilsonandson]

Many subscribers did not pay bills. As the company failed to answer telephone calls and emails many bills built up to large amounts and were never recovered by the company.

Another missed opportunity to watch free premiership football. Damn!

Seriously thinking over the true deal? Anyone know the exact price for football on True visions? Do I need a box, dish and wifi?

[Moti24]

"Many subscribers did not pay bills. As the company failed to answer telephone calls and emails many bills built up to large amounts and were never recovered by the company."

Maybe, if they had sent their bills on time, instead of after the pay-by-date, they wouldn't had lost so many customers. 

For those of you who are still owed 1800 Baht for the set-top-box deposit; don't let them fob you off with, "The deposit wasn't received"!  If it wasn't received, the cowboy installers didn't forward it to CTH.  Either way, CTH is wholly responsible.  Good ridance to another fly-by-night company.

[petedk]

26 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

"Many subscribers did not pay bills. As the company failed to answer telephone calls and emails many bills built up to large amounts and were never recovered by the company."

Maybe, if they had sent their bills on time, instead of after the pay-by-date, they wouldn't had lost so many customers. 

For those of you who are still owed 1800 Baht for the set-top-box deposit; don't let them fob you off with, "The deposit wasn't received"!  If it wasn't received, the cowboy installers didn't forward it to CTH.  Either way, CTH is wholly responsible.  Good ridance to another fly-by-night company.

Maybe it is good riddance to a fly-by-night company, but sadly it helps cement True's dominance.

CTH didn't provide any service and no one had any idea how to run the company. They popped up from nowhere because of their ridiculous bid for the premier league matches.

 

Ok, now True make an even stronger comeback. If they continue like this they will eventually get a monopoly and then they can virtually show and charge what they like.

[Moti24]

8 minutes ago, petedk said:

Maybe it is good riddance to a fly-by-night company, but sadly it helps cement True's dominance.

CTH didn't provide any service and no one had any idea how to run the company. They popped up from nowhere because of their ridiculous bid for the premier league matches.

 

Ok, now True make an even stronger comeback. If they continue like this they will eventually get a monopoly and then they can virtually show and charge what they like.

True have always charged what they like; that's why I left them in 2008.  The problem is that other options are few and far between.  I've been using ipplaybox for the past year, and I must say, other that a bit of buffering from time to time, the service is excellent.

[petedk]

4 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

True have always charged what they like; that's why I left them in 2008.  The problem is that other options are few and far between.  I've been using ipplaybox for the past year, and I must say, other that a bit of buffering from time to time, the service is excellent.

I have just splashed out on an Android box and my first impressions are: It is a waste of money.

I was using my laptop and FilmonTV and it was very good but when I tried the same app on my box I get a lot of lagging.

Anyway, I certainly hope some of the smaller cable operators can grow in size and eventually compete with True but I can't really see that happening.

[phuketjock]

1 hour ago, Wilsonandson said:

 

 

Another missed opportunity to watch free premiership football. Damn!

Seriously thinking over the true deal? Anyone know the exact price for football on True visions? Do I need a box, dish and wifi?

Depends on what you want, ranges between 2,155.15 per month for platinum through to 1568.12 for gold, 899 for super family, 590 for sports family, 

490 for smart family, 299 for happy family. I don't think you can just get the football alone you have to take one of the packages then pay extra for

the epl. You will need a box, dish but not wifi.

I just signed up for Gold + Sport with EPL and came in at just under 2000, not cheap but not much choice available now that CTH defunked.

Free installation and 1000 baht deposit for box, installers due tomorrow.

Edited August 1, 2016 by phuketjock
additional info

[dfp]

Does anybody know if the CTH box and satellite dish can be used for other channels ? At least if the satellite can be useful one way or another.

[Bangkok Barry]

15 hours ago, tx22cb said:

Good riddance, they were a bunch of cowboys.

Commiserations to customers who lost their deposits.

And will the Consumer Protection Agency come out to protect consumers? Fat chance.

I took up problems about CTH with the Board, and was promised a reply within a month. That was the last i heard from them, six months ago. Just as useless as CTH. I imagine they contacted CTH about why they did not respond to my emails, and they probably didn't respond to them either. So that was the end of it. A toothless organisation.

[Bangkok Barry]

13 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

Seriously thinking over the true deal? Anyone know the exact price for football on True visions? Do I need a box, dish and wifi?

Why not ask True Visions? Just a logical suggestion.

[Bangkok Barry]

I've had a Super Family package to keep True alive during the CTH period, but only used it for cartoons when kids came round. I don't know if other, cheaper, Family packages were around at the time and didn't realise I could have got something cheaper. So now I'll get the basic Happy Family for 299 and Sport for the same. I should - should - be able to simply call them to change the Package.

To access the non-sport UK channels, and as EPL backup, I'm weighing up the different box options for a second tv that I have. ilikehd has become unreliable, so I might go with IPTV Thailand. I'm particularly keen on getting the daily Football Today show that EPL put out for non-UK audiences at 19.30 or 20.30 Thai time depending on the time of year, but don't know if that will be available via True/BeIN or one of the other sports channels available via a box/internet. Time will tell.

[OJAS]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Why not ask True Visions? Just a logical suggestion.

Or read this thread on the Football/Soccer forum (the final 4 pages in particular):-

Reverting to the OP I was under the impression from messages which had been scrolling across our screens the previous month plus what was supposedly their final bill that CTH were due to go off the air 2 days ago! But they still seem to be going strong in our case at the present time.

So hopefully I'll be able to continue enjoying Sky's excellent UK news coverage until the end of this month - and free of charge to boot, all being well! 

Thereafter I suppose that I will, thanks to Truevisions, be reliant on the BBC's extensive coverage of every little USA news item instead ("We're now going over live to Little Puddleduck in North Tennessee where the local county sheriff is currently picking his nose")

[Bangkok Barry]

My understanding is that it was only their satellite service that was due to end last month and the cable service was to continue.

On one of the few occasions I managed to speak with someone at CTH I got a supervisor to the phone. She was horrified at the 'service' the company gave and I advised her to look for another job as CTH would certainly be going down. I had her direct line, and the next time I called her she had gone. Wise girl.

Sky New International is available on YouTube and is okay and mirrors the UK service (without the commercials). Sky News, BBC and CNN are available from ilikehd for 200 baht a month, but their service has become unreliable so I'll probably be using IPTV Thailand or something similar with an Android box for anything outside of the True sports football package. But I'm waiting to see if True show the Football Today EPL show each evening before deciding what other service to use.

[happy pattaya man]

CTH and True are one and the same....I have both in my bars and random flicking through channels showed the same programmes at the same times on both..yes, CTH had the football but that was just about the only difference.

 

hpm.

[natway09]

Happy p man.

Not quite right, although  they did show many channels the same.

CTH was always going to fail.

Absolutely no business acumen, planning, or customer service, along with ripping off business customers & giving nothing in return. Would never invest a Baht with these bunch of crooks

[Yaaklenmai]

Considering the way that they abused their position (cutting off this batch of customers, then the next, then the next, in order to save themselves money) I believe that their behaviour amounts to nothing less than fraud and the directors must be held to account!

Please let nobody forget that it was only at the end of 2015 when, instead of standard (monthly) subscriptions,they insisted that subscribers switching from cable to satellite (because they had to, based upon CTH cutting cable provision) purchased their ready boxes, which came with a 12 month subscription to all included channels (including the EPL).

Now, I for one, cannot believe that they didn't know that they were going to lose the EPL contract at that point, so what they knowingly committed was fraud!

In addition, CTH (at that stage) must have factored in the loss of subscribers that none renewal of the EPL contract would have upon their revenues and known that the company would, rapidly, become insolvent!

The directors need to be dragged in front of the courts and then banned from acting in similar capacities again, whoever they may be and existing directorships quashed - including the "big cheese", Wichai Thongtang, who appears to have his fingers in many pies!

That is what would happen in the west, why not in Thailand?

 

Edited August 2, 2016 by Yaaklenmai

[trainman34014]

Would have only ever considered CTH if there had been no other way to watch Prem' football but as WETV cable in CM broadcasts Vietnamese sport channel i can get it for free and with English commentary.   Doubt if they got a lot of business up this way.

[Bangkok Barry]

7 minutes ago, Yaaklenmai said:

 

The directors need to be dragged in front of the courts and then banned from acting in similar capacities again, whoever they may be and existing directorships quashed - including the "big cheese", Wichai Thongtang, who appears to have his fingers in many pies!

That is what would happen in the west, why not in Thailand?

 

You know the answer. Because it is Thailand, and the rich are not answerable to anyone.

[ianf]

+

How can we now get Eurosport? And on what channels do we find the Olympics. Which provider?

[Bangkok Barry]

ExpatTV are promoting their Olympic coverage, and ilikeHD gives access to the BBC which is also showing it. I'm sure there must be others, such as iviewHD. But the 12 (?) hour time difference here means night-time viewing. Same probably goes for Eurosport.

[CockneyGit]

CTH - Cheeky buggers just charged me 250 Baht for a new remote..!!

[CockneyGit]

CTH - Cheeky buggers just charged me 250 Baht for a new remote..!!

[ignis]

On 8/1/2016 at 7:13 PM, Moti24 said:

"Many subscribers did not pay bills. As the company failed to answer telephone calls and emails many bills built up to large amounts and were never recovered by the company."

Maybe, if they had sent their bills on time, instead of after the pay-by-date, they wouldn't had lost so many customers. 

For those of you who are still owed 1800 Baht for the set-top-box deposit; don't let them fob you off with, "The deposit wasn't received"!  If it wasn't received, the cowboy installers didn't forward it to CTH.  Either way, CTH is wholly responsible.  Good ridance to another fly-by-night company.

 

cowboy installers   ??

 

within 20 km of where I live there were 3 installers........ all the same, that had to pay a deposit [100 - 200,000 baht each these were in small Villages no idea what the set up deposit would have been in a City/Town] the agreement was they got x % per month + x % per installation and x % of the monthly bills from those customers....   in 2 years non had received a single baht on there investments,  countless promises from CTH, they all stopped doing anything for CTH some time ago,  so if they did not forward some of the installation fees then I don't blame them.

 

On another note a friend had CTH installed almost from day one, in 3 years never received or paid any monthly fee,  phone calls got nowhere or resulted in any monthly bills....  wonder how many others were the same ?  no wonder they have gone, how can you run a Company without any department taking care of the accounts/bills/services.  ?

[Moti24]

1 hour ago, ignis said:

 

cowboy installers   ??

 

within 20 km of where I live there were 3 installers........ all the same, that had to pay a deposit [100 - 200,000 baht each these were in small Villages no idea what the set up deposit would have been in a City/Town] the agreement was they got x % per month + x % per installation and x % of the monthly bills from those customers....   in 2 years non had received a single baht on there investments,  countless promises from CTH, they all stopped doing anything for CTH some time ago,  so if they did not forward some of the installation fees then I don't blame them.

 

On another note a friend had CTH installed almost from day one, in 3 years never received or paid any monthly fee,  phone calls got nowhere or resulted in any monthly bills....  wonder how many others were the same ?  no wonder they have gone, how can you run a Company without any department taking care of the accounts/bills/services.  ?

"...in 2 years non had received a single baht on there investments..."

 

Cowboys, the lot of them!  If you have ever employed a Thai to do some work on your house, have you ever had one that you could honestly say was qualified to do the job?  Your 3 installers, in your small village, are no exception; they do what they can to earn some money for their family, not forgetting the Laos Khao, of course, but I bet they cut a few corners when installing the CTH dishes.  Also, Thais in general, have no business sense; not received a single Baht in 2 years!  Would you have waited that long?  I have no sympathy for those guys - If you run a business, you either do it properly, or not at all.

 

All that aside, as I have already said, "CTH is wholly responsible.  Good ridance to another fly-by-night company".  If they had run their business properly, they would still be operating, and maybe, your 3 small village installers would still be fitting their dishes.

 

 

[skippybangkok]

From what I know, CTH "paid" the highest price in the world for EPL.  If you just do the maths, it was a disaster in the making and predictable.  I guess EPL management has also egg. on the face, as most likely the could not collect their fees from CTH.

 

 

[Bob9]

I recommend sports365tv - they have over 20 channels (all EPL etc) and store 7 days of programs on each channel that you can watch at any time - and you can download and keep any program you want.  Later today I will watch the final round of Senior Open and the MotoGP and Liverpool Vs Arsenal - and maybe something else (can fast forward too).