TrueVisions to expand HD services in Phuket

PHUKET: TrueVisions, Thailand’s leading subscription-based cable television operator, has announced an expansion of high definition (HD) services in a bid to broaden its subscriber base.

Managing director Thiti Nantapastsri said yesterday that the company until now had operated three HD channels – Reality HD, HBO HD and True Sport HD – as a pilot project via its digital fiber-optic cable network.

The service has now been expanded to 11 channels, offering a wide range of information, knowledge, music and entertainment programs.

The eight additional channels are TrueSport HD2, National Geographic HD, Discovery HD World, Star Movies HD, Fox Family Movies HD, AXN HD, KMTV HD and iConcerts HD.

The service area for the HD channels now covers Bangkok and surrounding areas, as well as Phuket, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Rayong, Chiang Mai, Songkhla, Lampang, Nakhon Sawan and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.

Chief Commercial Officer Ongard Prapakmol said the company expected the HD service to be available in 19 provinces by the end of the year.

Though the new service remains limited to subscribers to the fiber-optic cable network, it will also be available to satellite customers next year, with the goal of covering more than two million households within the next two years, he said.

The service expansion would help the company achieve its revenue target of 10 billion baht this year, which would represent a 20 per cent annual increase, he said.

In the first quarter, the company generated 700 million baht in revenue from spot advertising, he added.

— The Nation