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TrueVisions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TrueVisions is Thailand's leading cable satellite television operator. Now owned by the True Corporation, the company was formerly known as the United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), but it was rebranded in February 2007.
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On April 17, 1989, the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) and UBC (formerly International Broadcasting Corporation Public Company Limited or IBC) entered a joint venture agreement for the provision of subscription television service that was subsequently amended on May 19, 1994 and April 17, 1998, or the UBC Concession. Under the UBC Concession, UBC is permitted to operate subscription television on behalf of MCOT until September 30, 2014. UBC is entitled to provide subscription television pursuant to the UBC Concession to the whole of Thailand using a satellite to provide direct-to-home service, cable in the provincial areas and MMDS as permitted by the Post and Telegraph Department, and is entitled to use a satellite to provide service to hubs in provincial areas and then, through local cable networks, on to subscribers.
UBC launched South East Asia’s first subscriber-based television network in Bangkok in October 1989 using a MMDS transmission platform. UBC was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on February 3, 1994 with a registered share capital of Baht 180 million. UBC began serving viewers in major cities in all areas of Thailand in 1994 by transmitting programs using Thaicom 1 satellite. The satellite was used to relay signals to MMDS transmitters in the provinces. In 1995, UBC launched its DStv service using Ku-band transmission and MPEGII video compression. This enabled UBC to increase the number of channels being offered, improve sound and picture quality and distribute its service everywhere in Thailand. These services are now transmitted on the newer and more powerful Thaicom 3.
On November 12, 1993, MCOT and TelecomAsia entered into a memorandum of agreement for a joint venture for the provision of cable television services. Pursuant to its terms, TelecomAsia agreed to set up a public company to operate a cable television business. On June 6, 1994, MCOT and UBC Cable (formerly UTV Cable Network Public Company Limited or UTV) entered into a contract for the joint operation of subscription television services, or the UBC Cable Concession. UBC Cable is permitted to operate subscription television on behalf of MCOT until December 31, 2019. UBC Cable is entitled to provide subscription television pursuant to the UBC Cable Concession in Bangkok and elsewhere.
UBC Cable began providing its CATV service in Bangkok Metropolitan Areas in September 1995. The service was offered on its high quality hybrid fiber coaxial network which it began deploying in 1994. The cable technology allowed for a number of channels to be offered, with high quality sound and picture and allowed for value added services such as pay per view. By 1997 hybrid fiber coaxial cable network passed an estimated 800,000 homes. In 1997 UBC Cable sold the cable infrastructure component of its business to its sister company Asia Multimedia Company Limited allowing UBC Cable to focus on content and subscriber management service delivery.
As of 3rd quarter of 2005: 469,097 subscribers.
True Visions currently runs its own created channels as well as operating regional (either Southeast Asia or Asia Pacific) channels.
The channels operate by True Visions
- True Film Asia: Full-length Asian movies and series
- True Movie Hits: Thai-dubbed Hollywood movies (also available in English)
- True Series: Series and reality shows from around the world. For example; Prison Break, ER, Survivor, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, etc.
- True Spark: A cartoon channel for kids.
- True X-Zyte: Miscellaneous programs such as Maximum Exposure, COPS, TV Champion, etc.
- News 24
- True Inside: The "Behind the Scene" channel that offers scenes from the producers or anything related to Thai celebrities. This channel, however, also airs American programs such as Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight and even America's Next Top Model
- True Explore 1: True Explore 1,2 and 3 are documentary channels. Each of them focuses on a specific category; for example: Explore 1 focuses on Animals/Wildlife.
- True Explore 2
- True Explore 3
- True Music: An interactive music channel that plays only most voted videos. A vote is cast by an SMS.
- Majung Classic: A channel that plays Thai music videos from the 60's - 90's.
- The History Channel Asia: (formerly known as History Channel Thailand)
- G Square: The first Video games and technologies channel in Thailand. Half of the programme is produced locally and another half was imported from G4
- True Sport 1: True Visions has decided to rearrange all the programming of all its existing channels to accommodate the demand of subscribers. Those channels are SuperSport, SuperSport Action, True Zoccer and True Sport Plus. True Sport 1 has the same programming as True Zoccer.
- True Sport 2 focuses on all kinds of martial arts, wrestling (including WWE shows) and fighting sports.
- True Sport 3 focuses on extreme sports, water sports, and some ball sports (excluding those air on True Sport 4)
- True Sport 4 focuses on golf, tennis, billiards, polo, etc.
- Channel V Thailand
- E! Asia
- DMX Music Channels Asia
- Chic Channel is a local fashion channel affiliated and sponsored by Fashion TV
- Hallmark Channel Asia
Free Public Channels
- Thai TV Channel 3 MCOT: Operated by BEC
- Thai Military TV Channel 5
- Thai Military TV Channel 7: Operated by BBTV Kantana Entertainment
- ModerNine TV Channel 9 MCOT: Operated by MCOT Co.,Ltd incorporated with Nation TV
- Thai TV Channel 11: Operated by the Public Relations Department (PRD) of the Royal Thai Government*
- TITV: (Thailand Independent Television) Currently, also operated by the PRD. However, the ownership of this channel is in the talks of the Royal Thai Government
- T Channel
- Money Channel: Operated by the Stock Exchange of Thailand Trading Company
- Royal TV
- 14 channels from DLTV (Distant Learning Television): DLTV1 is the channel dedicated for 1st Grade students, DLTV2 is for 2nd Graders, and so on... DLTV13 is a miscellaneous channel and DLTV14 is an English channel
- ETV: Education Television
- TATV (Thailand Travel Television): Operated by Tourism Agency of Thailand (TAT)
- Thailand Global Network or TGN
- SME Channel
Channels carried by True Visions
- HBO Asia
- Cinemax Asia
- Star Movies Asia
- Turner Classic Movies Asia
- Cartoon Network Asia
- MGM Asia
- ESPN Asia
- Star Sports Asia
- AXN Asia (Hong Kong and Thailand)
- CNN International: East Asia
- CNBC Asia
- BBC World: East Asia
- Bloomberg Television Asia
- Discovery Channel Asia
- National Geographic Channel Asia
- Star World (Asia)
- Nat Geo Adventure (formerly known as A1)
- CCTV-4
- CCTV-9
- TV5 Asie
- TVB (Hong Kong)
- BBC Entertainment
- STC
- Animax Asia
- NHK
- E! Channel Southeast Asia
Channels provided by True Visions (From July 2007)
- HBO Packages: HBO Hits, HBO Signature, HBO Family
- Disney Channel Packages: Disney Channel Asia, Playhouse Disney Channel Asia
- Discovery Package: Discovery Science, Discovery Travel and Living, Discovery Real Time, Discovery Home and Health
- MCOT Democratic News Service Channel
- MCOT 1 Documentary Channel
- MCOT 2 Classic Entertainment Channel
Seasonal Channels provided by True Visions
- World Series Cricket Channel
- The Tri Nations Channel
- Academy Fantasia Channel or AF Channel (Created and Produced by TrueVisions)
- Big Brother Thailand
Channels under test run as of August 2007
- Preview Channel (HD signal, however the current set-top box models are not supported)
- News 2 (formerly known as TNN1)
- True Sports 5
- True Sports Extra 1
- True Sports Extra 2
Discontinued channels as of August 2007
- MTV Asia due to the establishment of MTV Thailand
- MTV Thailand due to a discontinued contract between UBC and MTV. This results as a discontinuation of VH1 Thailand, Fashion TV Thailand and Nickelodeon Thailand
- Pay Per View 1 and 2 due to presence of True Sports Extra 1 and 2
- HGTV Thailand
A monthly magazine, which sets out the broadcasting schedules, is sent free to subscribers. Contents such as hi-lights of the month, descriptions and synopsis are presented in Thai but the schedule listing is also available in English.
True Visions is now running a public beta test on the new PVR (Personal-Digital Video Recording) System, similar to TiVo. For more information, please go to True Visions PVR Website
As of November 12th of 2007, True Visions started to run a commercial between programs on several channels that they operate, stating that they are currently testing high definition (HD) channels and also the new set-top box system that will support both PVR and HD. They plan to launch the test run at Bangkok ICT Expo in November 2007.
Channels that they claim to be under the test run includes Barclay's Premier League HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, History Channel HD, and some HD programs on True Series. Even though AXN has claimed that they have filmed the Amazing Race Asia Season 2 program with High Definition cameras, they however have not broadcasted any of HD programming in South East Asia yet.