MOM will pour millions of baht into producing profit-making television programming. The move follows the January management reshuffle and entry of Charlotte Donavanik as CEO, who initiated the cost-cutting programme.

"We (MOM) spent almost the first six months of this year concentrating on cutting the fat in the organisation. We're now ready to gear up for new business opportunities to generate sustainable growth in the long term," said Charlotte, who took over from the old management team in January.

Charlotte said MOM had recently shifted its broadcasting concession for its T-Channel - a round-the-clock satellite channel for luk thung music - from Laos to Cambodia, thereby reducing the company's concession expenses by Bt1.5 million a month. The company has also reduced the ratio of live programmes on the T-Channel from 12 hours a day to eight, in order to reduce production costs.

Charlotte said MOM's second-quarter net profit jumped 29.97 per cent on year to Bt42.89 million, and its first-half net profit grew 62.44 per cent on year to Bt85.25 million. Total first-half revenues were Bt480 million.

"With new programme line-ups produced by MOM for the free television channels, particularly Channel 7 this year, we are quite confident we'll maintain 62-per-cent growth for the entire year, the same rate we achieved in the second quarter," she said.

Managing director Thongchai Chansevikul said the company would allocate at least Bt16 million in new investment for the T-Channel during the second half of the year, along with 10 new programmes, including short documentaries, children's programmes and soap operas, for time slots provided by Channel 7. The company is discussing deals with Channel 5 and Channel 9 for new air time for its programmes, including game and variety shows.

The reshuffle at MOM was the first big move since Channel 7's operator, Bangkok Broadcasting Television Co, which has a 70-per-cent stake in MOM, reorganised the loss-making production company, in an attempt to alleviate its Bt201 million worth of debts.

Charlotte said the country's total advertising spending was not expected to grow more than 5 per cent this year, and that would lead to tougher competition among television producers to supply quality programming.

The T-Channel yesterday announced a business partnership with Luk Thung FM, which broadcasts luk thung music on the radio. The collaboration is aimed at strengthening MOM's satellite television station, in order to offer a wider variety of luk thung music and provide value-added services like entertainment events and road shows.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation