TrueVisions and me...........

[JaseTheBass]

I'm always astounded anyone signs up with True in the first place. I thought everyone knew what a terrible company they are?

Sent from my Cray II supercomputer

[brewsterbudgen]

I'm always astounded anyone signs up with True in the first place. I thought everyone knew what a terrible company they are?

Sent from my Cray II supercomputer

There are not many alternatives to getting English language TV and, specifically, sport if you don't have a decent internet connection.

[Pib]

Regarding TrueVisions and even though I just dropped them, generally they have a  tough challenge in trying to satisfy farang viewing preferences since different nationalities prefer different programming.  

 

For example: Brits prefer to see UK TV, programming, Americans prefer to see U.S, programming, Germans prefer German programming...etc...etc..etc.   And then TrueVisions has to determine what farang programming channels are available to them at a price that fits their business/profit model (which may be overly greedy).    

 

Seems U.S. programming is what TrueVisions predominately  has with the exception of Sports where European sports programming seems to dominate which carries a ton of football (soccer).  If you are American you are probably not super interested in soccer since you grew up  on American football.  Or, maybe you grew up with Rugby football and much prefer that version of football.  And then you have many folks which don't really watch much sports of any kind...they prefer just movies and TV shows; and then you have sports fanatics who only seem to want to watch sports.  

 

Toss these widely varying farang viewing preferences into the mix of where farangs represent a "small portion" of viewers in Thailand.  I estimate over 90% of the Thai population don't have enough understanding of English to want to view farang programming when only broadcast in English or other farang language.  And while dubbing English programming into Thai helps to spur viewing there is just something about audio dubbing than seems to subtract from the view pleasure.   I know I'm not really crazy about watching audio dubbed programming.  

 

My Thai wife and most every Thai I know seem perfectly happy with viewing "free-to-air" C/KU band and/or terrestrial digital TV which contains little English programming.   So why pay for satellite/cable TV such as True Visions if you can get your "Thai" programming free.  

 

And most of the best free-to-air is on C band (big dish) versus KU bank (little).  So, unless your residence can mount a big C-band dish of approx 1.5 meters in diameter (I do have this capability at my house) a person can't get most free-to-air satellite programming.  I know I sure don't see C/KU band dishes mounted on the sides of highrise condos, other than maybe a few dishes on the very top of the building which may feed TV to all the condos.

 

Then we have TV via the internet, paid and free, which is impacting cable/satellite TV companies like TrueVisions the world over.   TV via the internet, IPTV, is definitely subtracting from cable TV viewership since person can view what they want and many times at a lower price or even free.  But I don't want make "TV via internet" sound so great/problem free as there can be many challenges/problems such as pausing/disconnects, regional blocks, have to use a VPN, low quality/speed internet connections, etc....a person needs a good internet plan the the willingness to learn about and use internet TV capabilities.

 

Yeap, I'm now TrueVisions free.   While never really happy with TrueVisions programming and pricing it was the loss of the Cinemax/HBO channels Jan 17 followed by a rub-salt-in-the-wounds 7% price increase June 17 that made it too much for me to bear, especially since I now had AIS Fibre IPTV with premium channels/HGO Go/HooQ.   Throw-in other movie/TV viewing offered via use of Android boxes running various video streaming apps on my high speed AIS Fibre internet plan and it was just time to let TrueVisions go.

 

TrueVisions now and in the coming years is facing a very challenging time in maintaining subscriber numbers and "satisfying" the viewing preferences of those subscribers.   Throw-in those folks who don't want to pay anything or pay a low price (nothing wrong with that) because they feel they can get everything they want via the internet.

 

And based on below partial quote from a Jan 17 TrueVisions press release where they were trying to put a positive spin on the loss of the Cinema/HBO channels, it seems obvious even less farang programming and more Thai/local programming is in TrueVisions future channel line-ups for their various packages like Platinum, Gold, etc.

 

Quote

 

This year, TrueVisions plans to invest more to produce its own content, reducing partnerships with outside content providers to create a balance of content supply.

This will also make TrueVisions stronger, helping it serve its customers with fresh content, he said.

"Making our own content will make it easier for us to switch content into any package to satisfy customers without worrying about conditions fixed by content providers," said Mr Birathon.

 

 

[curtklay]

Very well said, Pib.

For me, it was the January dropping of their best channels and replacing them with worthless, moldy oldies that pushed me over the edge. If I hadn't gotten out before the 7% price increase, I would have gone ballistic. I also resented the censorship, the subtitles and overlay ads on all corners of the screen. Add to that, the General's 45 minute interruptions in the middle of a movie, and I found myself asking, "Why am I paying for this?" The answer was, 7 years ago when I signed up, there were no other options.

 

But now there are many IPTV options that are far superior to True, even with the hiccups you mentioned. I now have Pulse TV, and am mostly pleased with it, although it's a bit heavy on the British content. But at half the price of True's Gold Package, I can't complain.

 

If True cares at all about their foreign viewers (which seems doubtful) they need to make major changes to their programming, pricing, and customer service before everyone goes looking for better alternatives.

[brewsterbudgen]

Very well said, Pib.
For me, it was the January dropping of their best channels and replacing them with worthless, moldy oldies that pushed me over the edge. If I hadn't gotten out before the 7% price increase, I would have gone ballistic. I also resented the censorship, the subtitles and overlay ads on all corners of the screen. Add to that, the General's 45 minute interruptions in the middle of a movie, and I found myself asking, "Why am I paying for this?" The answer was, 7 years ago when I signed up, there were no other options.
 
But now there are many IPTV options that are far superior to True, even with the hiccups you mentioned. I now have Pulse TV, and am mostly pleased with it, although it's a bit heavy on the British content. But at half the price of True's Gold Package, I can't complain.
 
If True cares at all about their foreign viewers (which seems doubtful) they need to make major changes to their programming, pricing, and customer service before everyone goes looking for better alternatives.

It was the same for me. 8+ years with Truevisions, stayed with them even when they lost the football to CTH. CBeebies, BBC Entertainment and HBO going was the final straw. I now have PulseTV which is excellent.

[Pib]

True is facing challenging times and their stock price since the first trading day of this year (4 Jan 17)  through 11 Aug 17 reflects it--a download trend.  However, True's competitors, AIS and DTAC, reflected an upward trend.    See below snapshots...right about in the middle of each snapshot is a time marker which is 4 Jan 17...notice how the stocks have performed since the beginning of the year.  

 

Now True consists of TrueVisions (TV) TrueOnline (internet), and TrueMobile (mobile) so their stock price reflects all three business units,  whereas, AIS is basically mobile and expanding into internet & IPTV....and DTAC is basically mobile only.  Many factors can affect stock prices, but it's interesting that True's download stock slide for 2017 began in Jan when TrueVisions dropped the Cinema/HBO channels and talk of dropping more channels became front page news.

 

True Stock Price...Bt7.35 on 4 Jan 17 to Bt5.45 on 11 Aug 17

 

 

AIS Stock Price...Bt149.50 on 4 Jan 17 to Bt178.50 on 11 Aug 17

 

 

DTAC Stock Price...Bt40.75 on 4 Jan 17 to Bt54.50 on 11 Aug 17

 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Pib

[curtklay]

The charts make perfect sense. And since True's stock includes all their ventures, and is at it's lowest point in a year, ( actually 5 years) it appears their eventual failure is imminent. They get no sympathy from me.