Satellite / Cable TV

This page is a little dated because with fiber internet so widespread in Thailand, and so many TV channels available over internet fiber, not as many people are setting up satellite "cable" TV. However, if you decide you still want to get a dish and connect to all those channels, too, then here is the scoop on satellite/cable TV:

We normally set up the TV service for our customers, helping with the paperwork, language, and channel options, for our customers. However, generally, here's the situation:

There is practically no "cable" TV in Thailand. It is practically all satellite, with few exceptions. The only "cable" is between the satellite dish and your TV.

In some apartment buildings, you can plug into the shared cable for their building, but for all houses, and many condominiums, the roof has an array of satellite dishes, one for each tenant, or else dishes are off your terrace. They are small dishes.

Overwhelmingly, the main provider is True Visions. It's often called "UBC" because the previous quasi-monopoly was a company called UBC (Universal Broadcast Communications) but True bought them up many years ago and rebranded as True Visions. (Unfortunately, as UBC was the first "brand", it became the "Cola" of zillion-channel TV.)

There are a few base packages, of which expats always choose either "Gold" at roughly 1500 baht per month or "Platinum" at about 2000 baht per month (previously 2500 baht). They are nearly the same, both having foreign news channels and educational TV like NatGeo, Discovery, etc. Platinum mainly has more movies and sports channels. There are now add-on channel packages for more movies, more sports, more cartoons, and a few esoteric things, so the luxury setup with often cost around 2500 baht, possibly a little bit more.

This gets you one point, but additional points are just a few hundred baht more per point.

There are various packages and promotions, which change often.

This changes so often that anything I write here would probably be outdated soon, so the best thing to do is just talk about this when the time comes.

Sometimes, I find that True's staff are wrong about their new promotions, probably because they advertise new ones without informing all their staff, and change things often.

There is no extra cost for the satellite dish and the decoder box, though you have to drop down a deposit of a few thousand baht, which is refunded after you complete your contract and return it. (Sometimes it's out of date so they just give you your refund but don't bother to pick it up.) Installation is free.

Most properties have cabling already inside, but if you want another point in a room which has no cable, then True can install the cable while they are out at your home putting up the dish.

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