Marketing director Sueksith Cholasuek said yesterday that the company had witnessed a rise of customer demand in this segment and had spent more than two years developing its VOD software so as to adopt this new interface and enhance its customers’ viewing experience.

The new service will be available both on the company’s pay-TV service and on the TrueVisions Anywhere mobile application from July 7.

Subscribers to the Platinum or Gold package will receive a free-trial privilege whereby they can watch 20 movies per month until August 31. After that, they will have to pay about Bt50 to Bt100 per movie as regular customers.

Sueksith stressed that the price ranges of TrueVisions’ new service were competitive among VOD providers.

According to a source , other players generally offer their customers buffet packages. Prime Time charges start from Bt99 per month. Iflix’s monthly charge begins at Bt100. Hooq’s monthly package starts from Bt119. Mono Maxxx’s monthly charge is Bt129. Hollywood HD’s is from Bt199 and Netflix’s monthly package is from Bt280.

Sueksith said this new VOD service was a part of the company’s customer-retention programme. Therefore, its main target is premium customers.

“We hope to see a half of our 300,000 premium customers [who pay for Platinum or Gold packages] to use this new service regularly by the end of this year.”

TrueVisions aims to reduce its average customer turn-over rate to less than 1 per cent from 1.5 per cent now. With this new VOD service, it also hopes to see its premium customer base increase by 15 per cent.

Apart from entertainment content, the company is also centring on live sport programmes.

EPL deal in final stages

Sueksith revealed that TrueVisions’ negotiations with Qatar’s BeIN Sports to broadcast live English Premier League matches were in the final stages. The result is expected to be announced by the end of this month.

Previously, the company said live EPL matches might air via BeIN Sports channels 1-4, but with the large number of live matches per season, the existing capacity might not be sufficient. Therefore, there might be an additional channel.