Amarin prepares for digital broadcasts

Amarin Printing and Publishing has set its sights on the broadcasting business this year to prepare for the arrival of digital terrestrial television.

Under its Bt500-million expansion plan for this year, Amarin has allocated Bt200 million for its satellite channel, Amarin Activ TV, with the remaining Bt300 million evenly distributed for its printing and event businesses.

Synergising its content ranging from fashion, lifestyle, food and health to entertainment, Amarin expects the new satellite TV channel to reach 10 million households via KU-band and to open doors for new advertising revenue.

Amarin says it can currently reach 28 million customers a year with strong purchasing power via its magazines, TV shows, consumer fairs, Naiin bookstores and online media.

Chief executive officer Rarin Utakapan said yesterday that there was a big challenge this year as a result of the changing media landscape. Digital media will become more dynamic once third-generation cellular connectivity is fully launched. This is also changing consumer behaviour.

Meanwhile the broadcasting industry will be reshaped from domination by six analog TV channels to a more liberalised field of 48 digital terrestrial TV channels.

Rarin added that the launch of a satellite-TV station was a key part of her ambitious plan to join the auction for operating licences for commercial digital channels, which is scheduled to begin in July or August.

She said her company wished to have a licence for a variety channel and was waiting for further details on the auction from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, particularly about the licence fee and other costs.

The company initially earmarked about Bt1 billion for the coming auction.

Its main source of revenue currently is print media, while non-print media account for just 10 per cent. The CEO forecast that revenue from non-print media, including satellite and digital TV, would hit 20 per cent in the next three years.

By the end of this year, the company expects to see 10-per-cent growth from Bt2.1 billion revenue last year, Rarin said.