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Broadcasting Act lets pay-TV firms sell time
WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE
TrueVisions, the country's biggest pay-TV operator, is beginning to earn a revenue stream from advertisements for the first time after the Broadcasting Act took effect in March, according to chief commercial officer Ong-ard Prapakamol.
Mr Ong-ard said that since the law allowed cable TV operators to sell advertising airtime, TrueVisions had started to let media-buying agencies know what kinds of programmes it planned to sell, mostly those high on the list compiled by Nielsen, the agency it has commissioned to rate its programmes.
''But we have yet to sell our airtime since we haven't reached a conclusion with MCOT,'' said Mr Ong-ard, referring to contracts between TrueVisions and MCOT Plc, which granted the concession to the pay-TV operator.
TrueVisions now sells tie-in ads in some of its programmes such as news. Under the new law, cable TV operators can sell a maximum of six minutes of airtime per hour but not exceeding 120 minutes per day.
A source at MCOT said that according to the contract signed more than a decade ago, TrueVisions, then UTV, could earn revenue only from a single source _ subscription fees. But the circumstances have changed after the passage of the new act and the company is entitled to benefit from the new provision just like any other cable TV operator, provided it renegotiates the issue with MCOT.
The change should benefit all stakeholders, including subscribers, he noted.
''On top of that, the concession fee paid by TrueVisions should be reviewed since it earns more revenue,'' the source said. Currently, it pays a concession fee of 6.5% of annual revenue.
Actually, the renegotiation started under the previous MCOT executive board, but was put on hold, to be considered by the newly appointed board.
The same source said the review of the contract between TrueVisions and MCOT might be more complicated because the value of the new contract might exceed one billion baht, a threshold required to comply with the Joint Public-Private Venture Act.
Wannee Ruttanaphon, chairwoman of the media buying agency Initiative, said TrueVisions had presented programmes and packages to her agency for feedback. Most of the programmes are produced by the company itself and exact prices have not been quoted yet. They are likely to be in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 baht per spot while free-to-air TV operators charge up to 450,000 baht a minute in prime time.
Ms Wannee said the rates were much cheaper than for free-to-air TV, but the number of viewers was much smaller too, calling into question the ability to reach audiences. However, she said one of TrueVisions' advantages was its ability to reach specific target groups.
TrueVisions claims one million subscribers, 600,000 of whom pay fees. The rest come from joint promotion campaigns with the mobile service of its parent company, True Corporation.
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