TrueVisions expanding HD channels to 50-plus

Managing director Anat Mekpaiboonvatana said that under this Bt2.1-billion investment plan, the company would this year spend Bt1 billion to upgrade software and picture-quality converters for 25 new HD channels, for a total of 48. The remainder will be used to add 10 more early next year.
The new HD channels include BBC (British Broadcasting Corp), CNN, Cartoon Network, Life Inspired and ASN (All Sports Network).
However, only subscribers to the Platinum Package will get all of the HD channels, while other customers will be offered different numbers of them, depending on the packages they pay for.
Anat said his company was in talks with a number of international content providers to secure exclusive rights to broadcast their TV shows, in an effort to differentiate its content from its rivals’.
To expand its new services to the rest of the country, TrueVisions will emphasise three key media platforms – cable and satellite TV and mobile – while synergising with its sister companies. It will work closely with True Online to provide its service via hybrid fibre coaxial cable. True Online, the Internet broadband provider under True Corp, currently reaches more than 4 million households in the key provinces outside Bangkok.
TrueVisions is also working with True Move, a provider of mobile broadband service, to promote its TrueVisions Anywhere application, which allows users to watch its 140 TV channels via smart phones or tablets. The company expects to add 350,000 subscribers a year to this service.