TrueVisions will “fight to the end” to dislodge rival Thai pay-television operator Cable Thai Holdings as the rights-holder for football’s English Premier League, according to Suphachai Chearavanont, the president and chief executive of the broadcaster’s parent company, True Corporation.
The Bangkok Post newspaper said that TrueVisions and CTH are two certain bidders in the auction for the next three-year rights cycle, from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
The rights will be put on the market in the next two months, Chearavanont added.
However, Chearavanont said that TrueVisions would not overpay for the rights, with CTH having doubled the rights fee in the three-year cycle from 2013-14 to 2015-16 to secure the coverage.
“If the bidding price is deemed uneconomical and not worth the investment or beyond our business capability, we will seek other avenues of quality, appealing and customised content to offer better value for money than the English Premier League,” he said.