Grammy seeks digital slot for soaps

Grammy seeks digital slot for soaps

GMM Grammy, the country's biggest entertainment company, set a 200-million-baht budget to enhance its GMM One channel with dramatic content and bolster its bid for a high-definition digital TV licence.

Soap operas will be 80% of the channel's total content, with the rest game shows. The content will be newly produced by subsidiaries such as A-time Media, GTH and GMM TV.

"We focus on drama because it's the most popular content," said Takonkiet Viravan, managing director of GMM One.

The channel was introduced on satellite TV last year, targeting mass-market audiences.

"We're confident in our channel, as it has the same production standard as free TV, which costs 1 million baht per hour for broadcast, and drama is the key strategy for attracting viewers," said Mr Takonkiet.

Airtime for ads on GMM One averages 20,000 baht a minute. The channel has no plans to hike ad rates and hopes to break even by the end of this year.

Grammy originally planned to use GMM One as the exclusive channel for the GMM Z set-top box. The channel was then revised to be free-to-air for all platforms, including cable TV operators and satellite set-top boxes. If it wins a digital slot, news shows will be added later.

TrueVisions, the country's leading pay-TV operator, will officially launch its new TV service for hand-held devices on May 1. Called TrueVisions Anywhere, it lets subscribers watch either pay or free-to-air channels while on the move.

Managing director Anat Mekpaiboonvatana said the Anywhere service will be free for one year to 350,000 subscribers of the Platinum HD, Gold HD and Super Entertainment packages.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT