HONG KONG : Cable Thai Holding Plc (CTH), the newly established operator of cable TV via a fibre-optic system, has added three Hong Kong TV channels to cover all market segments under a three-year agreement with Now TV.

Wichai: Digital rollout will expand channels

The channels are Now International (cooking, lifestyle and travel shows), Now Mango (a joint venture between Now TV and Hunan Broadcasting System) and Now HaiRun (drama series).

The deal will help CTH cover Thailand's Chinese communities, an important market in the country.

CTH executive director Kittsanan Ngamphathipong said CTH aims to be a home solution of Thai people by 2014, so the company plans to add more business partners in future.

Janice Lee, managing director for TV and new media at PCCW, the operator of Now TV, said the partnership with CTH "follows hot on the heels of our launch in Malaysia".

She voiced confidence that Now content would be welcomed by the Chinese in Thailand, adding that the channels will also be subtitled and dubbed into Thai language.

CTH chairman Wichai Thongtang said his company was relaunching its brand with the new digital broadband network and would increase the number of its channels from 16 to 120, including 70 premium channels.

CTH earlier announced a big investment budget of 20 billion baht to build its cable TV business under a system called "fibre to the home" (FTTH). The system is used in the US, Japan and Hong Kong.

Magnets for CTH include English Premier League football, Nat Geo Wild and Edge Sport. The minimum package price is estimated at 350 baht a month for existing clients, with a maximum package price listed at 1,000 baht a month.

Mr Kittsanan said the existing 3.5 million subscribers will change to digital boxes by mid-2013. The company expects to achieve a target of 1 million new subscribers by the end of next year and cover 12 million households by 2015.

CTH was founded in 2009 by over 100 cable TV operators nationwide in order to improve content for Thai viewers. Today, more than 3.5 million households (over 12 million viewers) watch its programmes.

As Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission rolls out digital TV, CTH plans to develop its own optical fibre network across the nation.