TrueVisions revenue surges by 20% in 1H2015

TrueVisions, pay-television arm of True Group, has recorded a revenue of THB5.90 billion in the first half of the year 2015, raise by 20.4% year-on-year, as compared to THB4.90 billion in the first half of the year 2014. Its service revenue and product revenue stood at THB5.82 billion and THB81 million respectively in 1H 2015. At the end of June 2015, its pay-TV subscriber base was 2.7 million.

During the second quarter of 2015, the company’s revenue has increased by 19% year-on-year due to the strong advertising growth; it rose to THB2.99 billion in 2Q 2015 as against THB2.50 billion in 2Q 2014. Subscription and installation revenue was flat at THB1.9 billion in 2Q 2015.

The company has posted a revenue of THB594 million from music entertainment and music events revenue in this quarter.

TrueVisions’ operating expense has surged by 23.5% y-o-y to THB2.6 billion due to higher cost of providing services related to content and music entertainment in the 2Q 2015. Its EBITDA stood atTHB296 million in the same period.

TrueVisions keen on winning broadcasting rights of Barclays Premier League

TrueVisions, which is a Thailand-based cable satellite television operator, is keen on winning the broadcasting rights for the Barclays Premier League (BPL) football seasons. The next round for bidding for the rights is expected to take place in May or June of 2015.

“I’ll try to bring the broadcasting rights back to TrueVisions,” said Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive officer of True Corp, reports The Nation.

TrueVisions was earlier forced to introduce new programmes such as Thai Premier League matches after it saw a dip in subscribers over the last few years. The operator lost as many as 70,000 customers after failing to clinch the broadcasting rights to BPL. Cable Thai Holding or CTH, which is a newcomer in Thai pay TV market, won the rights to BPL matches for 2013-16 seasons. Suphachai believes that the next round of the bidding process will be less competitive than the 2012 bidding process, according to The Nation.

“Thailand’s pay TV industry has been very dynamic with a number of newcomers over the past three years, but only two operators, TrueVisions and CTH, could shake up the market,” Attaphon Na Bangxang, chief programme and content officer at TrueVisions had earlier told the Bangkok Post.

TrueVisions posts THB10.83bn revenue in 2014

TrueVisions’ revenue has declined at a growth rate of 0.3% year-on-year from THB10.85 billion in 2013 to THB10.83 billion in 2014. Its revenue has increased at 8.2% quarter-on-quarter sequentially from THB2.84 billion in Q3 2014 to THB3.07 billion in Q4 2014. TrueVisions has a subscriber base of 2.5 million in 2014 and its average revenue per user for the year is THB715.

EBITDA has dipped by 2% y-o-y to THB1.4 billion in 2014. The company’s operating expenses has increased 2.8% y-o-y to THB9.0 billion and capital expenditure has dropped 27.1% y-o-y to THB1.7 billion following the group’s cost control initiatives implemented throughout the year. Revenue from services has increased by 0.7% y-o-y to THB10.80 billion 2014 from THB10.72 billion in 2013 and product sales has decreased by 79.2% y-o-y to THB27 million in 2014 from THB131 million in 2013.

“The service revenue has increased slightly as incremental revenue from advertising and music entertainment business offset softening subscription revenue. Nevertheless, TrueVisions’ stronger position in the mass segment, underpinned by the continued popularity of the Group’s mass convergence packages, resulted in a pick-up of subscription revenue since 2Q14. This upward trend has continued throughout the year, despite the impact from competition and economy,” said the company in its financial statement.

Advertising revenue grew 40.0% y-o-y to THB1.3 billion, partly due to ongoing positive response to the redesigned advertising packages with better-valued offerings to advertisers and media buyers as well as rising contribution from digital TV channels. Music Entertainment and other revenue increased 19.6% to 

TrueVisions bets big on sports content

TrueVisions has intended to enhance its sports and entertainment programming. It has planned to partner with RS Inc and beIN Sports to secure broadcast rights to two major football leagues. RS and beIN Sports hold broadcast rights of La Liga League and UEFA Champions League respectively.

TrueVisions has planned to renew its licence of Calcio Serie A football league which expires this year. It has secured three years broadcast rights to Thailand Premier League for THB1.8 billion. La Liga and Calcio Serie A have planned to float the tender for 2016-18 seasons in the second half of this year.

“Thailand’s pay-TV industry has been very dynamic with a number of newcomers over the past three years, but only two operators, TrueVisions and CTH, could shake up the market,” claimed Attaphon Na Bangxang, Chief Programme and Content Officer at TrueVisions.

“The variety and quality of content is the heart of the pay TV business to meet the demand of various viewer groups in each segment,” he added.

TrueVisions subscriber base grows

One of Thailand´s largest pay-TV operators, TrueVisions has seen a substantial increase in its subscriber numbers bringing the total to 2.3 million. It was reported that it had 2.04 million subscribers by the end of 2012. The company has also seen a rise in the revenue for the first half of the year by 16.2% to over USD 1.7 billion.

Out of the 2.3 million subscribers, 29% of them have opted for the free-view package, 15% have taken the standard package, 37% use their free-to-air box and 17% have opted for the premium package. The number of subscribers for the premium package have fallen down to 393,000 to 435,000 as the company lost its right to broadcast English Premier League games.

In order to regain some of the subscribers who have left due to lack to EPL action in its roster, TrueVsions has recently paid USD 56.1 million to get the rights to broadcast the Toyota Thai Premier League for three consecutive seasons starting from 2014.