Paisit Vatjanapagorn, True's director and general manager for broadband, broadcast and multimedia, said yesterday True Magic had already invited independent film-makers and interested talent to propose projects.

"We want to produce the best films in Thailand. We have no fixed partnership formula. In some cases, we may finance the productions for them, and in others we may invest jointly with them. We are open to all ideas, since we want to attract as much talent as possible to work with us," Paisit said.

The move is part of the company's continuing development of content for the group, which includes pay-TV company UBC True, cellular operator True Move and broadband-Internet operator True Internet.

"The films we produce could be shown in theatres or on our numerous telecom channels, depending on negotiations with the producers," Paisit said.

He declined to specify budgets for the film productions. "It depends on what kind of film and the duration of production," he said.

Meanwhile, True's IPTV service has joined up with several television production houses, including Exact, Asia Television and Media, JSL, Lucks 666, Comedy Line and UBC Inside from UBC True, to offer a variety of TV programmes through its "video on demand" service.

True's IPTV service provides multimedia content via the Internet protocol channel. Unlike the pay-television service, IPTV subscribers can select the channels they want and pay a monthly fee for only what they view, after a one-time charge for a modem and set-top box.

Paisit declined to reveal the current number of IPTV subscribers but said True had set a target of 300,000 within the next 18 to 24 months.

True, which has been focusing on synergy among it subsidiaries, has 2 million fixed-line telephone subscribers and 500,000 broadband-Internet subscribers, while True Move has more than 5 million mobile-phone subscribers.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation