Truevisions Attracts Bulk Of Pay-Tv Industry Complaints

[waerth]

http://nationmultimedia.com/business/TrueVisions-attracts-bulk-of-pay-TV-industry-compl-30215300.html

 

In the first nine months, industry leader TrueVisions became the pay-TV operator that consumers complained about the most, according to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).

 

From January to September 15, the NBTC's subcommittee for consumer rights received 74 complaints from pay-TV subscribers. More than half, or 58.1 per cent, were related to services, while others involved poor signal transmission due to disruption from other frequencies, exaggerated or false advertisements, and technical problems with satellite-TV set-top boxes.

 

There were 40 complaints about TrueVisions services, including equipment maintenance and fees and overly aggressive pressure on customers to pay their monthly subscription charges.

 

There were also two complaints against GMM Z, a subsidiary of GMM Grammy, and one against CTH.

 

NBTC commissioner Supinya Klangnarong, who oversees the watchdog's consumer rights subcommittee, said that to prevent such problems, the commission on Wednesday approved in principle draft rules governing pay-TV programming and scheduling.

 

According to the draft, pay-TV operators must propose their customer-contract formats to the NBTC for approval 60 days in advance. The NBTC can order the operators to revise any terms or conditions that it deems treat customers unfairly, and the operators must obey.

 

An operator offering a pre-paid service to access its exclusive TV programmes such as pay-per-view and video-on-demand must also make its service fees clear to customers.

 

Supinya said this rule aimed to protect consumers from unfair terms and conditions offered by pay-TV operators as well as to regulate the Bt12.21-billion industry.

 

Last year, the NBTC received more than 400 complaints of unfair treatment by pay-TV operators, including those from some 200 TrueVisions subscribers over the blank screen shown by the operator instead of the Euro 2012 soccer games.

 

"Once the new rule is in place, we expect the number of complaints will be reduced in the near future," she said.

 

The NBTC and consumer-protection groups plan to conduct roadshows across the country to build public awareness about consumers' rights in TV and radio service and to promote media literacy.