True spends Bt2 bn on EPL rights
True executives line up during the press conference yesterday on True Visions’ winning of the broadcasting rights for the English Premier League.
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Pay-TV operator True Visions will spend about Bt2 billion for three years on the broadcasting rights for the English Premier League (EPL) and associated programme promotional activities.
True Visions clinched the three-year exclusive licence in Thailand several months ago before making the official announcement yesterday.Supachai Chearavanont, chief executive of True Corp, parent of True Visions, said yesterday that the cost of the three-year licence, plus the company's programme campaigns, was around Bt600 million per year or a total of about Bt2 billion for three years. True Visions will broadcast all 380 matches per season, beginning next season. The programme will be available free of charge for its existing Gold and Platinum package subscribers. Platinum subscribers can view 10 matches per week and Gold subscribers eight games. Subscribers to the other three packages - Silver, True Life and True Knowledge - have to pay an additional Bt299 per month for the football but can see only three to five matches per week. True Visions, formerly known as United Broadcasting Corp (UBC), has around 800,000 subscribers, of which 350,000 are in the Silver, True Life and True Knowledge packages. Supachai expects that 100,000 of the existing and new subscribers to these three packages would be willing to pay extra to see the Premier League programme. He added that buying the Premier League broadcasting licence was a good investment for the company. True Visions will promote the related content through the diverse channels of True Corp's telecom businesses, ranging from cellular phones to broadband Internet services. Usanee Mongkolporn, The Nation
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