CTH's football investment short of breaking even
Play
A NEW season of the Barclays Premier League is about to kick off in a few weeks, and CTH is still far from its projected break-even point.
“We are about in the middle of reaching our projection after experiencing some delay in the marketing and distribution plan during the first season of the Premier League in the last two years,” Chirdsak Kukiattinun, executive chairman and chief executive officer of CTH, a leading subscription-based TV operator, said.
CTH currently holds the current audio-visual broadcasting rights for 380 live Premier League matches for three seasons from 2013.Chirdsak added that his company expected that the season 2014-15 would generate about Bt3 billion revenue, mainly from sponsorship, advertisement and sub-licensing to local free TV broadcasters Bangkok Entertainment Company, the operator of Channel 3, and Triple V Broadcast, the operator of Thairath TV channel.For the 2015-16 season, which begins on August 8, the company aims to generate at least Bt6 billion revenue.
Revenue contributors include big sponsors like Advanced Info Service, Singha Corp, Toyota and AP Honda. CTH has also granted sub-licence rights to Bangkok Media and Broadcasting – the operator of PPTV channel – to broadcast 26 live free-view matches. The sub-licensing costs about Bt200 million.
Kematat Paladesh, president of Bangkok Media and Broadcasting, said acquiring the rights for live broadcasts of the Premier League was expected to give PPTV digital TV channel improved ratings, as this football league is a premier content with a strong viewer base.
Apart from audio-and-visual broadcastings rights, Kematat said PPTV was also granted the right to conduct on-ground activities to engage football lovers and support live broadcasting via digital TV.
Under the initiative of veteran investor Wichai Thongtang to integrate local cable TV operators, CTH – formerly known as Cable Thai Holdings – was awarded live broadcasting rights for all 380 Premier League matches per season from 2013-14 until 2015-16 in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
Chirdsak insisted that his company was still planning to join the new round of bidding for the Premier League’s broadcast rights in order to sustain the business in the long run. The bidding will begin in October.
“As the Premier League is a killer content, there is no doubt that our company needs to have it besides other key content, he added.
Today, CTH will announce a partnership with HBO Asia and DreamWorks SKG to launch “DreamWorks Channel” on its platform in a bid to attract family viewers.
