Pay TV operator CTH says if it fails to win the bidding for the exclusive broadcasting rights to English Premier League (EPL) games in the three seasons from 2016, it will shift its focus to programming for women and children.
Chief executive Chirdsak Kukiattinun confirmed the company's strong intention to join the EPL bidding, which is scheduled to take place by year-end.
"EPL remains the king of sports content," he said.
"After building a football fan base for two years, we want to continue with it."
CTH won the EPL broadcasting rights for three seasons starting in 2013 after bidding 10 billion baht, thought to be the highest price in the world at that time.
But its live broadcasts of EPL matches in the first two seasons did not attract the revenue and subscriptions expected, contributing to CTH's huge net loss of 3 billion baht last year.
Mr Chirdsak estimates the company will see 3 billion baht in revenue for the most recent 2014-15 season, mainly from sponsorships, advertising and sublicensing to Channel 3 and Thairath TV.
For the EPL's 2015-16 season set to kick off on Aug 8, CTH expects revenue of at least 6 billion baht.
However, the new EPL bidding remains competitive, as True Group, which held the EPL broadcasting rights before CTH, wants them back.
True has said it is also open to any form of alliance to join the bidding.
Amid the bidding uncertainty, CTH wants to reduce its dependence on EPL.
It believes attractive TV programming for children, women and families will help to strengthen its viewer base and is now building content aimed at these groups.
CTH now has 2 million subscribers — 1.5 million of its own, 200,000 from Grammy's GMM Z and 300,000 from cable TV partners — and expects viewership will reach 3.7 million by year-end.
A company survey found cartoon and other children's channels were the most popular, not only on free TV but also the pay TV platform.
"Adding more children's and family programmes will help CTH to survive if we lose the new EPL bidding," Mr Chirdsak said.
He said there was high competition in children's programming as well, while the company's main competitors were free-to-air channels and not other pay platforms.
Yesterday, CTH joined with DreamWorks Animation SKG and HBO Asia to launch the DreamWorks Channel in high definition on CTH and Z Pay TV set-top boxes, to air from this Saturday.
The company expects 1 million subscribers to the DreamWorks Channel after one year.
"The DreamWorks Channel will differentiate us from other operators' children's channels," Mr Chirdsak said.
Apart from signature series such as the computer-animated All Hail King Julien, the channel will also present a daily morning preschool block and DreamWorks Junior.
Package prices range from 99-499 baht a month.