CASBAA releases Thai market report

Hong Kong: The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has released its ‘Thailand in View’ market report for its members. The report provides an updated overview of Thailand’s pay-TV industry as well as highlights opportunities and challenges in regulatory and political areas of concern. Key contacts of the Thai cable TV industry and a draft of the Broadcasting Bill 2007 are also included.

According to the report, Thailand’s pay-TV penetration remains low as compared to other Asian markets with only 14.3% of 18.7 million Thai TV households (2.7 million households) subscribing to pay TV. CASBAA noted that issues troubling the Thai market including signal theft and a regulatory environment that permits unlicensed operators in provinces have to be addressed before the industry can grow further.

The report also predicts pay-TV advertising to pick up as the newly passed broadcasting legislation is expected to facilitate the lifting of the ban on privately owned pay-TV operators from carrying domestic advertising. Currently, the Thai government has given only tacit approval for pass-through, non domestic pay-TV advertising to be carried.