The 11-year-old company is introducing 10 new channels and expects strong gains from its new promotion campaign. For the bronze and silver packages, for instance, up-front charges would be cut to 4,000 baht (US$104) from 11,000 baht.
Monthly subscription fees for the 10-channel bronze package would be reduced to 700 baht from 928, while the 21-channel silver package would have monthly fees cut to 750 baht from 1,070 baht.
Vasili Sgourdos, UBC's deputy chief financial officer, said: "Surveys show that most consumers are hesitant about committing to the two packages due to high costs, and the new promotions would help ease entry barriers."
UBC had 457,542 subscribers as of December 31 last year and has set a long-term goal of reaching 800,000 subscribers, or 30 per cent of all TV-owning households that can afford UBC's fees, according to Sgourdos.
UBC chief executive Sompan Charumilinda, said that 2005 would be the company's "most important year" following the establishment of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). He said that the NBC and the new broadcasting law would create fair competition among all legitimate pay-TV players in the industry.
"There are still pirate pay-TV operators on the market. These pirate operators will not affect UBC, but the country overall," Sompan said.
"UBC did not fear competition, as long as the same rules applied to everybody."
UBC reported 2004 profits of 844.65 million baht, up from 131 million in the previous year. Revenues in 2004 were 7.7 billion baht, up 7.4 per cent from the year before and driven by a seven per cent gain in subscription revenues.